SHARE

By of the

Madison - A second judge has declared Wisconsin's voter ID law unconstitutional, further guaranteeing that the ID requirement will not be in place for elections this fall.

Dane County Circuit Judge David Flanagan wrote Tuesday that the state's requirement that all voters show photo ID at the polls creates a "substantial impairment of the right to vote" guaranteed by the state constitution.

In March, Flanagan issued an injunction temporarily blocking the law because the plaintiffs - the Milwaukee branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the immigrant rights group Voces de la Frontera - were likely to succeed in their arguments. Flanagan made that injunction permanent in the 20-page decision he issued Tuesday.

The immediate effect of his ruling is limited because another Dane County judge, Richard Niess, permanently blocked the voter ID law in March in a case brought by the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin. Having a second ruling against the law makes it all the more difficult for voter ID proponents to get the law reinstated because they would need to get both orders lifted.

Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen asked the state Supreme Court to take up both cases earlier this year to get a quick resolution to them, but the court declined. The state's high court is expected to eventually take the cases. Meanwhile, two other challenges to the law have been filed in federal court.

Van Hollen has appealed the ruling in the League of Women Voters case to an appeals court in Madison. That court is not expected to rule until after November, meaning photo IDs will not be required at the polls in the Aug. 14 primary and Nov. 6 election.

Dana Brueck, a spokeswoman for Van Hollen, said the attorney general was likely also to appeal the decision in the suit brought by the NAACP and Voces.

"We'll make a final decision after we've fully reviewed the order," she said.

The suit was brought against Gov. Scott Walker, who signed the photo ID law, and the state Government Accountability Board, which runs state elections. Walker spokesman Cullen Werwie had no immediate comment.

Under the law approved last year by Republican lawmakers and Walker, voters are required to show one of a set number of photo IDs to vote. It was in place for the February primary but has been blocked by court orders since then.

Those who do not have a driver's license or other photo ID can get one without charge from the state. But Flanagan noted that birth certificates are required to get the IDs and voters who don't have them must pay for them. He said more than 300,000 voters do not have an acceptable form of ID.

"The cost and the difficulty of obtaining documents necessary to apply for a (Division of Motor Vehicles) photo ID is a substantial burden which falls most heavily upon low-income individuals," his decision said.

A demographer who testified for the state, Peter Morrison, argued virtually all eligible voters had a photo ID, but University of Wisconsin-Madison political scientist Kenneth Mayer estimated more than 301,000 do not have a driver's license or state ID card. That's 9.3% of registered voters.

Flanagan also said the voter ID measure - which backers say will help prevent voter fraud - is "unlikely to protect the electoral process." He said the voter ID law appears to be the most restrictive one in the country.

Flanagan took criticism earlier this year because he signed the petition to recall Walker, who was named in the lawsuit.

Alison Bauter and Jason Stein of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report.