Dane County will partner with the University of Wisconsin-Madison to study the impact of Wisconsin’s voter ID law on this November’s general election.
Dane County Clerk Scott McDonell said he proposed the study because he wants to know who needs additional support and education about the requirement. He says there’s been a lot of speculation about who may be negatively affected by voter ID in Wisconsin, but he wants hard data.
“I feel like I’m guessing, I’m making assumptions about the law’s affect,” McDonell said. “What I really just want is some data so that I’m really helping voters navigate this law, so they can vote.”
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The study will survey registered voters who didn‘t participate in November’s election, asking if voter ID played a role in keeping them from the polls.
“We’ll be able to tease out who’s really being affected and who maybe we thought was being affected, but they really aren‘t,” McDonell said.
McDonell said his office will use the data to create specific voter outreach and education programs for future elections. The study will cost $44,000.
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