A federal judge on Thursday ordered the state to provide more information to the public about how they could easily get voting credentials even if they don’t have birth certificates, but declined to suspend the voter ID law. U.S. District Judge James Peterson said his order would “patch up” the system used to provide voting credentials to people with the most difficulty getting IDs, but acknowledged it would be an imperfect, temporary solution. He said the state would have to implement broader changes to that system later, but there is not enough time to do that before the Nov. 8 election. Under the 2011 voter ID law, people can get free IDs for voting, but a small group of people face challenges in getting them because they don’t have birth certificates or have problems with their documentation.
Those people are entered into what the state calls the ID petition process, or IDPP, and are supposed to get voting credentials sent to them within six days unless they are determined to be ineligible to vote. In July, Peterson called that system a “wretched failure,” and he reiterated that sentiment Thursday.
“People just didn’t know what you would get if you went into the IDPP,” Peterson said. “(The Division of Motor Vehicles) never made clear what you needed to do to get into the IDPP. It was not only unclear to the public, but it was unclear to … DMV employees themselves.”
One Wisconsin Institute and Citizen Action of Wisconsin Education Fund sued the state last year over a host of election laws. In response, Peterson struck down limits on early voting and ordered the state to reform its system for making sure people have voting credentials under the voter ID law.
Full Article: State must provide more voter ID info.