Voter ID likely staying for Nov. elections, unless Wisconsin goes to split U.S. Supreme Court

Some of the restrictions were struck down by judge

Less than three months to go before a presidential election and judges are still making decisions that could determine who can and can’t vote in Wisconsin.  

But a decision released last week by a federal judge might be the last word at least on some election law changes ordered for November.

“There aren’t really any other shoes to drop, unless it went right to the U.S. Supreme Court,” Robert Kraig, with Citizen Action of Wisconsin, said. “And, as you know, that’s very unlikely given the U.S. Supreme Court, now, is divided, four to four.”

Citizen Action of Wisconsin is one of the groups that sued the state over election laws that a federal judge last month called discriminatory in nature.

Some of those laws have been struck down for the November election.

“This is where we are,” Kraig explained, “we’re going to have much more early voting in the state, more locations in major municipalities, and we’re going to have much more reasonable revenue requirements, but photo ID is going to be on the books in November.”

One of the laws struck down by the judge is one that he determined was intentionally discriminatory and unconstitutional. Republicans, the judge said, meaning to keep black and Latino voters away from the polls.

“The kind of thing that we think of in our history from the deep south, from Jim Crow,” Kraig said. “That Wisconsin is being found by a federal court to engage in intentional discrimination.”