“Wisconsin Is Systematically Failing to Provide the Photo IDs Required to Vote in November”

Ari Berman:

Nine percent of registered voters in Wisconsin don’t have a valid voter-ID and many are still struggling to get the documents they need to vote in November. It appears that Wisconsin is violating multiple court orders by not promptly giving eligible citizens free IDs or certificates for voting. This is particularly concerning since early voting began this week in cities like Madison and Milwaukee and thousands of Wisconsinites are casting ballots. …

Wisconsin claims they are doing this. In a legal filing on September 22, Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel cited a press release from the Department of Transportation stating, “DMV will now be issuing photo identification receipts no later than six business days from receipt of the petition application.” The Wisconsin Election Commissions issued a similar press release saying, “Free Photo ID for Voting Now Available with One Trip to DMV.” The Wisconsin Attorney General said, “DMV is carefully administering the process to ensure that anyone who is eligible for the IDPP will have a valid ID for the November general election.”

But recordings from the DMV clearly show this is not the case. Molly McGrath, the national campaign coordinate for VoteRiders, which helps people get voter-IDs, accompanied Moore to the DMV and recorded the trip. Read this exchange between her and DMV employees:

Molly: If you initiate the petition process do you get an ID for voting?

DMV Employee 1: No, you don’t get anything.

DMV Employee 2: No, you don’t get anything right away.

Molly: Ok, so even if we start the petition process, and it takes 8 weeks, he wouldn’t be able to vote.

DMV Employee 1: Right, right, right.

DMV Employee 2: Well, I don’t know, they’re working on that. It’s kind of up in the air right now.

…Molly: I thought you could get an ID, like the sign says over there: ‘No birth certificate, no problem.’ You can get an ID to vote.

DMV Employee 3: You can. It just takes the time.

Molly: So even if we just start the petition process, he wouldn’t get anything temporarily that says you can vote?

DMV Employee 3: Nope. Nope.

Yup, softening of harsh voter id laws in theory does not mean they are actually softened in practice.

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