New Website, Hotlines Aim To Educate Voters On New Voter ID Law

A new voter education website and phone hotline is up and running in Wisconsin for the first time on Monday.

The organizers of GOTIDWisconsin.org say the service is needed to help voters understand the new requirements of the state’s photo identification law.

The new service is an offshoot of a national project called Our Democracy 2020. Project coordinator Erika Wolf said the goal is to help the more than one-quarter of Wisconsin voters who aren’t aware they need a photo ID to vote in the upcoming election.

“This law was implemented in a pretty rushed fashion less than 60 days before the election and all sorts of institutions weren’t prepared to be answering the inquiries,” Wolf said. “For example, the (state Department of Motor Vehicles) didn’t know that they were going to have an influx of voters coming in for free IDs.”

The Government Accountability Board is urging voters to use their website or call their county clerk to get the most accurate information about the new law, but Wolf said this new service simply adds a new and equally accurate source of information.

“The Government Accountability Board has always supported non-partisan voter education and honestly, they don’t have the funding or the person power to do the kind of mass education that’s required,” Wolf said.

Wolf said another group of activists is going door to door across the state to educate voters about a wide range of issues, including the ID law. That effort has generated a phone list. She said her group has now begun calling voters from that list to insure those without IDs know where and how to get one.

For more information, call 1-866-687-8683 or to get information in Spanish, call 1-888-839-8682.

For More Info:

• GOTIDWisconsin.org
• Government Accountability Board Website