Witness says recent Wisconsin voting laws are discriminatory

Recent Wisconsin laws limiting voting hours and requiring people to present photo identification at the polls, taken together, amount to state-sponsored discrimination, a political historian testified Tuesday in federal court.

The testimony from American University political historian Allan Lichtman came near the conclusion of the case brought by a pair of liberal groups and voters challenging more than a dozen voting-related laws signed by Gov. Scott Walker and passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature since 2011. They argue that the laws unconstitutionally restrict the ability of racial minorities, the poor and young people from voting.

Attorneys for the state Department of Justice, which is defending the laws, have argued that high voter turnout disproves concerns over voter suppression and that state workers are diligent about getting free IDs to those who need them. The first defense witness, Cedarburg city clerk Constance McHugh, testified Tuesday that she hadn't witnessed any problems related to enactment of the various new laws being challenged, including the limits on in-person absentee voting hours and locations.

The trial was expected to conclude by the end of the week, with U.S. District Judge James Peterson issuing a written ruling later.

Much of the case has focused on the process used by the state's Division of Motor Vehicles to issue free IDs to people who don't have the proper documentation needed to obtain one. Those challenging the law say minorities are disproportionately trapped in a system that makes it difficult for them to get the IDs because they may not have a birth certificate or may have trouble getting the needed documents.

Lichtman testified that he's not accusing DMV workers of wrongdoing, but rather said that they're "in a very bad system that leads to bad results." He previously testified that race is a key factor for those who request free identification from the state but can't get it.

Earlier testimony included people who have had trouble obtaining free IDs from the state, including black voters whose names were misspelled on their birth certificates. Attorneys challenging the law have focused on a small number of people whose petitions were rejected or had to wait months or years to obtain a free ID. Evidence has shown that 61 people had had their requests denied as of May 13, and 52 of them — or 85 percent of them — were either black, Hispanic or Native American. That's in a state with a population that is 88 percent white, according to the most recent census data.

Attorneys for the state were expected to present testimony showing that few problems exist with issuing free IDs and that DMV workers go to great lengths to help people facing problems. The state has issued about 420,000 free ID cards since the law took effect five years ago.

And just days before the trial began last week, Walker signed an emergency rule designed to help people who are waiting for a free ID but don't have the proper underlying documents. The rule he signed will allow them to vote in the November election with a receipt issued by the DMV for those who are still in the process of obtaining their free ID.

Wisconsin's voter ID law, passed in 2011, has been upheld as constitutional under previous court challenges and will be in place for the first time in a general presidential election this November. The law was in place for elections in February and the presidential primary in April.

Some of the other legal changes being challenged in the federal lawsuit include a reduction in early voting from 30 days before an election to 12 days, the limiting of the hours that voting can take place and the restricting of early voting to one location per municipality. Plaintiffs are also challenging the elimination of straight-ticket voting, the scrapping of a requirement that special election deputies be assigned at high schools, and the forbidding of local governments from requiring landlords to distribute voter-registration forms to new tenants.

The lawsuit was brought by the liberal group One Wisconsin Institute Inc., social justice group Citizen Action of Wisconsin Education Fund and 10 voters.