Voters Without ID in Wisconsin

The battle over voter ID continues, and in Wisconsin, it is being fought in the courtroom. Two judges recently blocked the state’s law requiring photo ID at the polls from taking effect.

Plaintiffs opposing the law retained researchers to examine the rates of possession of accepted photo ID among the voting eligible population (VEP) and registered voters in Milwaukee County, the state’s most populous county.

Based on survey results, 9.5 percent of the county’s VEP—slightly more than 63,000 eligible voters—and 8.7 percent of registered voters were found to lack the proper ID.

The findings also revealed the rates of inadequate identification were significantly higher than the countywide figure among minorities but lower among white voters:

• 14.9 percent of eligible and 11.3 percent of registered Latinos.
• 13.2 percent of eligible and 15.3 percent of registered African-Americans.
• 7.4 of eligible and 6.0 percent of registered Whites.