Voter ID requirement will be added to Wisconsin Constitution after referendum passes

Wisconsin voters have agreed to add a voter ID requirement to the state constitution.

That’s after a ballot measure passed Tuesday, according to an unofficial tally by the Associated Press.

The AP called the results of the referendum at 8:37 p.m. All results are unofficial until they’re certified in coming weeks.

The newly approved amendment will cement rules already laid out in state law.

Under that 2011 law, Wisconsinites are required to provide an acceptable form of photo identification when voting.

But, compared to changing a state law, a constitutional amendment will be harder to undo. And Republican sponsors of the amendment say constitutional language is necessary to protect voter ID rules against future legal challenges.

“I am unwilling to let this basic election integrity measure be overturned by the state Supreme Court,” state Sen. Van Wanggaard, R-Racine, a co-author of the measure, said just before it cleared the Senate earlier this year. “The only way to ensure this stays the law of the land is to put it in the constitution.”

Backers argue that voter ID requirements increase confidence in elections and guard against fraud.

Critics counter that such requirements make it harder for people to vote. They say voter ID mandates are more likely to disenfranchise groups of people who are less likely to have a photo ID. That includes people of color, elderly Wisconsinites and people with disabilities, according to the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin, which opposed the referendum.

Nina Lebwohl, a Madison resident, voted no on the referendum Tuesday morning. She believes it was aimed at suppressing voter turnout.

“I don’t like anything that limits someone’s right to vote and that can be used to kind of chip away at getting people to the polls,” she said.

The measure got to the ballot after being approved in two consecutive legislative sessions by GOP lawmakers who control Wisconsin’s Assembly and Senate. Democratic Gov. Tony Evers had no control over that process, and the amendment will take effect without his signature.

Polling has shown that voter ID requirements are popular among Wisconsin voters, and Tuesday’s results bore that out.

The constitutional language approved by voters Tuesday specifies that voters need to provide “valid photographic identification,” but it doesn’t list what types of IDs are considered acceptable. Instead, the amendment says that it’s up to legislators to set those requirements in law.

Under Wisconsin’s preexisting law, Wisconsin voters can use the following types of IDs:

• Wisconsin driver’s license
• Wisconsin non-driver ID
• Military ID card or an ID card from the Veteran’s Health Administration
• U.S. passport or a certificate of naturalization issued no more than two years before the election
• ID card from a federally recognized Indian tribe in Wisconsin
• Wisconsin student ID card with a signature and an expiration date no later than two years after the date it was issued

Addie Costello contributed reporting.