Wisconsin colleges issuing voter IDs, ACLU sues state over voter law
14 December, 2011
category: Education, Government
While more Wisconsin colleges are issuing voter identification cards to students, the ACLU is suing the state over its recently-passed voter ID law that, the organization claims, makes it more difficult for some students and others to vote in the state’s elections.
The University of Wisconsin Colleges are joining other Wisconsin campuses in issuing voter identification cards to students on request, according to this student newspaper article.
Documentation students need in order to obtain the voter ID include both a verification of enrollment document and a laminated photo ID that is approved for voting. The new documents will be available without charge. Students using a student Voter ID will need both documents in order to vote. Regular student ID cards are not acceptable at the polls.
According to this report, the state’s voter ID law requires out of state students to surrender their driver’s licenses in order to obtain a Wisconsin ID, one of the prerequisites for obtaining a voter ID card.
In addition, students attending a school that does not issue a photo ID would also have trouble obtaining a voter’s ID card, the suit says.
College students account for eight of the 18 plaintiffs in the suit. In addition to several that do not want to turn in their out-of-state licenses in order to obtain a Wisconsin ID. The suit also names a technical college student who doesn’t have a photo ID because technical college IDs are not an acceptable form of identification under the state’s voter ID law.
According to the suit, there were 382,006 students enrolled in state technical colleges in the 2009-2010 academic year. With roughly 4.2 million eligible voters in Wisconsin, those students accounted for roughly 8.8% of all Wisconsin voters.