The Wisconsin Elections Commission is reminding residents that they still have time to obtain an acceptable photo ID for voting free of charge before the Nov. 8 election.
A federal judge in Madison recently ordered the state to better publicize the photo ID requirement in effect for next Tuesday’s election, and to “patch up” problems with the law.
Elections Commission Administrator Michael Haas urged people without an accepted ID like a driver’s license to visit a Division of Motor Vehicles office.
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“Just bring whatever identifying documents you have like a birth certificate and proof of your current address. But If you do not have those documents, DMV will still give you a document you can use to vote on Nov. 8,” Haas said.
Haas also pointed out that those who show up to vote on Election Day without a photo ID can still cast a provisional ballot that’ll be counted if they bring an acceptable ID to the local clerk’s office by Nov. 11.
At a Monday news conference in Milwaukee, Anita Johnson of the group Citizen Action Wisconsin urged those without IDs to try to resolve any problems by next Monday. Johnson is state coordinator of a group called VoteRiders, which helps people obtain voting identification. She urged people to bring identifying documents to a state DMV office as soon possible, and begin the ID petition process.
“Do not be afraid of the IDPP process,” Johnson said. “It is only an identification process that identifies you in case you don’t have all of your documents like a birth certificate.”
Johnson said that in recent weeks, she’s seen some improvement in training of DMV staff, but said a woman she helped Monday at a DMV office had to wait two hours before workers would give the woman a photo ID.
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