Wisconsin DOJ Appeals Court Ruling Creating New Barrier for Voting
Thousands of voters could be barred from polls. DOJ urges quick action by appeals court.
A voter enters a polling location Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024, in New Berlin, Wis. Angela Major/WPR
The state Department of Justice has appealed a circuit court ruling that would create a new citizenship check for millions of Wisconsin voters.
The Oct. 6 ruling by Waukesha County Judge Michael Maxwell directed the Wisconsin Elections Commission to cross-reference the state’s voter registration list against Department of Transportation records. Those include a person’s citizenship status when they applied for a driver’s license or identification card.
Maxwell’s ruling also barred the commission and local clerks across Wisconsin from registering any new voters without proof of citizenship. He stayed that portion of the ruling, putting it on hold for the time being.
In an appeal filed Monday, lawyers for the Wisconsin DOJ told the District 4 Court of Appeals that Maxwell’s order could purge voters based on data collected by the state DOT up to eight years earlier, potentially purging voters who were legal residents at the time but not yet citizens. The DOJ said that was not required by any law and violated other laws that prohibit unauthorized data sharing.
The DOJ also said Maxwell had not explained a process by which voters could show additional “verification” of citizenship.
The DOJ’s appeal said the order would likely disenfranchise eligible voters who attempt to register but can’t satisfy undefined verification criteria.
“The likely injuries to the Wisconsin electorate — including the disenfranchisement of thousands of newly naturalized U.S. citizens and others who depend on electronic voter registration — far outweigh Respondents’ speculative concerns about illegal voting,” the appeal states.
The lawsuit that led to Maxwell’s ruling was filed roughly a year ago, just weeks before the 2024 presidential election. Plaintiffs say it’s about restoring trust in elections.
The ruling comes as President Donald Trump’s administration is suing multiple states, including Minnesota, for voter registration data in an effort to ensure voter rolls are “clean.”
The DOJ asked the state appeals court to rule on an expedited timeline “given the gravity of the issue, the need to promptly clarify the law for the Wisconsin electorate, and the immediate harms imposed by the circuit court’s order.”
Wisconsin DOJ appeals ruling that would create new citizenship check for voting was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.
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And then if the DOJ doesn’t get the answer it wants, will they go at it another way?
All this mish mash is so dispiriting.