Wisconsin voters don’t have a good handle on what types of identification they can use to cast a ballot, a University of Wisconsin-Madison political science professor on Tuesday told the state Elections Commission. That’s one takeaway professor Ken Mayer reached after releasing a survey in September about how the state’s voter ID law affected turnout in last year’s presidential election in Milwaukee and Dane counties. “We found substantial evidence that most voters don’t have good information, accurate information, about the voter ID requirement,” Mayer told the Elections Commission. His study estimated 16,800 voters in those two counties did not vote because of the voter ID law. The $55,000 study — paid for by property-tax payers in Dane County — covered the state’s Democratic strongholds, but not other parts of the state.
The report has been controversial. Democratic opponents of the law have said the study shows the law is keeping minorities and others who tend to vote for Democrats from the polls. Republican backers of the law question the report’s sample size and methodology and say anyone legally eligible to vote can get a free state ID to vote.
Mayer’s survey found most people did not know which types of IDs can be used to vote in Wisconsin and were confused about whether they could use driver’s licenses that are expired or have an old address on them.
Full Article: Wisconsin prof says voters confused over ID law.