(The Center Square) – The national mail-in voter registration form is no longer allowed in Wisconsin.
Waukesha County Judge Michael Maxwell this week banned the form because it asks questions not allowed by Wisconsin law, including a question about a voter’s race. The form also allowed people to register for Wisconsin voters without providing other information required by state law.
The Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty sued for this form and won.
“The legal problem in this case was simply that the law did not require (additional information), so by including these requests, the form went beyond the law and was illegal,” Lucas Vebber of WILL told The Center Square. “The judge, however, never addressed these issues because he determined that the form was never lawfully passed at trial.”
Maxwell said in her order that the Wisconsin Elections Commission “failed in (its) most basic duty” to register voters using the proper forms.
A spokesperson for the Election Commission did not respond to questions from The Center Square.
Neither WILL nor the Election Commission knows exactly how many people in Wisconsin registered to vote using the national form.
Vebber said it didn’t matter because the judge’s order only affects voter registrations going forward, adding that ‘no one was removed from the voter rolls as a result of the decision’ .
“The Court has given them 14 days to withdraw all of their illegal directives and to inform the clerks that the national form cannot be used in Wisconsin. The WEC could still appeal the decision,” Vebber said.
Wisconsin voters can register online, at their local election office, and in person at the polls on Election Day.
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