Wis. elections board clarifies student ID rules

MADISON, Wis. — The state board that oversees elections in Wisconsin clarified Monday what student identification cards would be accepted under a new law taking effect next year that requires residents to show photo IDs at the polls to vote.

The Government Accountability Board agreed stickers could be used by colleges and universities to indicate when student IDs were issued and expire. The law requires the expiration date to be no later than two years after the card was issued.

But many campuses, including those in the UW System, issue IDs when students enter school and they are valid for four or five years, board attorney Mike Haas said. One solution to that problem would be to allow for stickers that have a shorter expiration date but are good only for purposes of voting, he said.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison is currently studying how to bring its cards into compliance with the new law and hopes to have a redesign ready later this fall, said Don Nelson, the school’s lobbyist.

The board also voted to make clear that only IDs from public or private colleges or universities that award an associate degree or higher, and that are accredited by a regional or national accreditation association, would be allowed. That would include all UW campuses.

The Legislature specifically rejected allowing IDs from technical colleges to be accepted. Elections board staff had raised concerns that IDs from other institutions, like truck driving or cosmetology schools, could be valid under the law without the clarification.

The law also requires that students prove they are enrolled when they vote. The Legislature did not specify what document or form could be presented to show this.

The board agreed that whatever proof of enrollment was presented must refer to the semester or quarter in which the election is taking place. Haas said UW-Madison is considering issuing a letter to students that would confirm they were enrolled and could also be used at the polls along with their photo ID.

Under the new law, students could always vote absentee from their home residence instead of using their student ID as proof of residence in the city where they attend school.

The Legislature passed the photo ID requirement and Gov. Scott Walker signed it into law earlier this year. Portions of it were in effect for recall elections targeting state senators this summer, but the requirement that voters show a valid photo ID won’t begin until next year.

Opponents said when the bill was being debated that lawsuits would likely be filed challenging the new requirements. At Monday’s meeting, the head of the Wisconsin chapter of the League of Women Voters told the board it planned to file a state lawsuit in a couple weeks challenging the law’s constitutionality.

Andrea Kaminski told the board that the law is unconstitutional because it creates a new class of people — those without photo IDs — who are excluded from voting. The requirement sets up the potential that someone whose house burns down and loses all their possessions the night before an election would also lose their ability to vote just because they don’t have a photo identification, she said.

“The new law faces an unfair burden on people who do not need a driver’s license,” she said.

Board members did not react to her statements which were made during the public comment portion of the meeting.