Forward Latino and Voces de la Frontera want a Waukesha County Circuit Court to dismiss a lawsuit that seeks to force the Elections Commission to use DOT records to cross-check voter registrations to ensure they’re U.S. citizens.
Ardis Cerny, of Pewaukee, filed the suit last month after the Elections Commission rejected the complaint she filed seeking a similar outcome. The agency ruled it was unable to hear the case because the commissioners had been named as respondents.
She argues state and federal law require that everyone on the voter registration list be a U.S. citizen and otherwise eligible to vote. But she charges the Elections Commission has refused to require proof of citizenship from registration applicants.
Forward Latino and Voces de la Frontera on Tuesday filed a motion to intervene and a proposed brief urging the case to be dismissed.
In the proposed brief, the immigrants rights groups argue no state law requires a comparison of voter records to DOT’s citizenship information. What’s more, it argues that DOT records aren’t reliable for citizenship status because they only reflect someone’s information at the time they first interacted with the agency and generally aren’t updated when someone becomes a naturalized citizen.
The brief argues Cerny is asking the court for “unprecedented disruptions to Wisconsin election law just weeks before voting begins, based on statutes enacted more than 20 years ago that have never been understood to do what Cerny says they require.”
There is a Sept. 10 status conference scheduled in the case, according to online court records.
Meanwhile, the chairs of the Legislature’s Elections committees sent a letter to incoming DOT Secretary Kristina Boardman asking her to share with them information on permanent non-residents/non-citizens who have state driver’s licenses or ID cards.
Sen. Dan Knodl, R-Germantown, and Rep. Scott Krug, R-Nekoosa, this spring asked DOT Secretary Craig Thompson to share the information following a legislative hearing. Thompson wrote back in July that state law doesn’t direct DOT to provide citizenship information to the Elections Commission, though there are “several limited pathways” to communicate citizenship information to the agency if asked.
Thompson also rebuffed the chairs’ request for a “list” of permanent non-citizen residents who have ID cards or driver’s licenses. Thompson wrote the agency has the information, but not in list form. He also noted there are federal restrictions on what personal information can be released from a motor vehicle record and the agency can’t collect and provide the records the chairs requested as with an open records request.
The chairs wrote in Tuesday’s letter that they know DOT has the information they want even if it’s not compiled on a list. They wrote their request complies with federal privacy laws on motor vehicle records and reminded Boardman that state law compels agencies to cooperate with the Legislature.
