A Waukesha County judge has temporarily put on hold his requirement that election officials check the citizenship status of those seeking to register to vote.
Judge Michael Maxwell’s decision Monday came after the Elections Commission asked for an immediate hold on his entire ruling directing the agency and the Department of Transportation to begin coordinating to check the registration status of new voters.
Maxwell wrote following DOJ’s request would deny those who sued seeking citizenship checks the opportunity to respond. He set a briefing schedule to hear the request filed by the Department of Justice, which is representing the Elections Commission. Oral arguments will be held Oct. 31. Until then, he stayed one of four requirements he included in Friday’s order.
That leaves in place other directives, including for the parties in the suit to meet and confer on a process to evaluate the current voter rolls, whether through matching information in DOT files or through other lawfully available means, to determine if they include ineligible voters.
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Ahead of his order, DOJ had sought a stay of his entire decision, which it argued would require a “massive overhaul” of the state’s voter registration system that would take months to implement.
It also argued the ruling doesn’t make clear what the ordered verification entails and would force the Elections Commission to take down its online voter registration system for months. That would violate state law requiring the agency to maintain an electronic voter registration system.
“The impact would be enormous: Wisconsin receives an average of more than 200 online voter registrations per day,” DOJ wrote in the request.
Maxwell ruled Friday that the Elections Commission and the DOT have a duty to match records to the state’s voter registration system to ensure that only those lawfully eligible to vote are on the rolls. He enjoined the Elections Commission and the local officials the agency regulates from accepting any request to register, whether electronically or via paper, without verification that the applicant is a U.S. citizen.
He directed the review of current voter rolls to be completed prior to the next regularly scheduled statewide election.
Monday’s filing argues Maxwell didn’t explain what such a verification should entail, such as whether applicants would have to provide a birth certificate or U.S. passport, while registering. It also argued Maxwell exceeded his authority by including local election officials in his order, even though they weren’t parties to the suit.
Currently, those seeking to register must attest that they are U.S. citizens under penalty of imprisonment. But they aren’t required to provide any documentation.
Ahead of Maxwell’s late afternoon ruling, Attorney Kevin Scott, who represents those that sued to require a citizenship verification, noted 71% of voters in November approved a state constitutional amendment allowing only U.S. citizens to vote in state and local elections. He said that shows most Wisconsinites back Maxwell’s ruling as he argued the commission should “do the right thing” and work with his clients to implement the ruling.
“Instead, the six-member Board of WEC has decided that the Constitution of this state is irrelevant and that the ‘right’ of non-citizens to vote is paramount,” Scott said. “WEC needs to answer to our legislators and the electorate as to why it is acting contrary to law as well as Wisconsin’s 175-year tradition of transparency and open government.”
