Wisconsin Voters Approve Amendment Requiring Photo ID to Vote

The state has required voters to use photograph identification for nearly a decade, but an amendment to the Wisconsin Constitution was seen as making it more difficult to roll back that rule.

Wisconsin voters on Tuesday approved an amendment to the State Constitution to strengthen a current law requiring photo identification at the polls, The Associated Press said, a victory for Republicans who sponsored the effort.

For close to a decade, state law has required the use of photo ID when voting at the polls in Wisconsin.

But a constitutional amendment was seen as making it far more difficult to roll back the voter ID law, even under a state Supreme Court with a liberal majority or if the State Legislature fell under Democratic control. The measure was brought by Republicans, who control a majority of seats in the State Legislature and had pressed for the amendment for years.

Conservatives have steadily and successfully pushed for stricter voter ID laws across the country, suggesting that they are needed to combat widespread voter fraud. Election experts say that voter fraud in American elections is exceedingly rare.

Democratic leaders opposed the effort for the amendment in Wisconsin, arguing that it would disenfranchise voters including students, older people and particularly Black voters, who studies have shown are less likely to carry photo identification than white voters. While Black voters make up only about 5 percent of Wisconsin’s electorate, they overwhelmingly favor Democratic candidates.