Richard Wolf

USA TODAY

A federal appeals court on Friday gave Wisconsin the green light to implement its controversial photo ID law for this year's elections.

The order from a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit, delivered just hours after oral arguments in the case, brought widespread criticism from voting rights groups that say the law will reduce turnout among poor and minority voters.

The panel, comprised of judges named by Republican presidents, didn't issue its decision on the state's appeal of a district judge's ruling that struck down the law. But it said the state could impose the new requirement in the meantime.

"The panel has concluded that the state's probability of success on the merits of this appeal is sufficiently great that the state should be allowed to implement its law," the panel said.

The case had been closely watched by voting rights groups and by other states seeking to implement similar laws. Those include North Carolina, Ohio and Texas.

"Before today, courts considering ID laws have not allowed them to go into effect this close to an election," said Dale Ho, director of voting rights at the American Civil Liberties Union. "We are evaluating our options to prevent chaos at the polls and to ensure that all Wisconsin voters are able to access the ballot free of unjustified obstacles."

Legal battles in at least seven states have been joined following the Supreme Court's decision last year eliminating a major barrier against voting procedure changes in mostly Southern states. The justices said Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, which requires pre-clearance for all voting procedure changes, could not be imposed on all or parts of 15 states.

In the wake of that decision, several states have made voting more difficult to combat what they claim are instances of voter fraud. Texas imposed strict new photo identification rules hours after the Supreme Court ruling. North Carolina cut back on early voting, same-day registration and provisional balloting.



