Wisconsin’s voter ID law can be a nightmare for student voters

Wisconsin law states a student ID can be used for voting, but only some schools issue state-compliant identification.

On some campuses, students need to request a special ID including their photo, legal name, signature, issuing date and expiration date.

The time between the issuing date and expiration date was previously limited to two years but a recent change now allows a student to use an expired ID, with proof of enrollment.

Kristin Hansen, a board member of Common Cause Wisconsin, works with college students to help them vote. She said state law makes it difficult.

“This is one of the things that is a mystery is, a school already knows the student is who they say they are, they’ve already provided identification to the school,” Hansen pointed out. “The ID that the school gives should be enough, without all this other nonsense attached to it.”

She noted another challenge for students is providing proof of residency, as some can change addresses every year they are enrolled.

Out-of-state students face additional hurdles in registering to vote and using their home state-issued ID. Hansen thinks the bottom line is, Wisconsin’s voter ID law is unnecessary.

“If we’re going to have a voter ID law and the purpose of the law is to identify a person’s name, who they are, match their photo to their name, then I don’t see why it has to be a limited number of IDs that are acceptable,” Hansen contended.

Molly Ford, an out-of-state senior at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, is familiar with the hurdles. It is her first time voting in a presidential election but she voted in the state’s general election two years ago. She said she almost missed one of her class finals, because she had to run back to her dorm to get a document after having already stood in line.

“My friend that was in the class was like, ‘You’re crazy, I would have just not done that,'” Ford recounted. “And I was like, ‘Well, it was important for me to vote in this election.'”

Ford added although her school has been proactive about promoting the student vote, it would be helpful to know more about what exactly is needed to cast a ballot. Voters can check registration information from the state at myvote.wi.gov.

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This article originally appeared on Wisconsin News Connection, a division of Public News Service.

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Support for Public News Service reporting was provided by The Carnegie Corporation of New York.