Carolyn Fath
The real test of the new requirements will come during the April 3 spring election and the November general election for president.
Melanie Sax and other poll workers recognized the longtime voter. They also found her name and address in the poll book. But she did not have a photo ID for Tuesday's primary so she could not vote.
"She was fairly recently in a car accident and couldn't make it to the DOT to get a Wisconsin ID," said Sax, the chief elections inspector at the polling location at Trinity United Methodist Church on Vilas Avenue. The woman, who does not drive, has neither a driver's license nor a state ID.
"We're so lucky to be in this country and to be able to vote," she says. Being shut out of the process hurt: "I did feel bad."
According to poll officials, Curtin was one of two voters turned away for lack of photo ID at the Vilas Avenue polling station Tuesday, the first election in which the state's new requirements were fully in place. It was a closely scrutinized launch, with watchdog groups monitoring the polls for problems, collecting anecdotes for legal actions and staffing hotlines.
For the most part, few problems were reported. This was partly due, say election officials and observers alike, to voter education efforts and the small turnout. Just about 10% of the city's 165,000 registered voters turned out to the polls. Though low, the number is still about double what has been customary in such elections.
"It was a gentle introduction for the new voter ID law," says Barry Burden, a UW-Madison political scientist.
But the day was not without glitches.
Lauren Ehlers showed up at Trinity United Methodist Church just before the polls opened at 7 a.m. to vote before reporting to her student teaching job. A UW-Madison junior, she had registered two months ago. But her name was not on the poll books, and she did not bring proof of residency with her. So she left without voting in the morning, but returned later with a copy of a university form that showed her address.
And at least one polling station -- on Acewood Boulevard on Madison's east side -- ran out of ballots just before 6 p.m., according to one voter.
There was also continued confusion among poll workers over the photo ID requirements. Attorney Tim Verhoff, who recently moved to a new house, says he had no problem when he presented his driver's license with his old address. But his wife's license with her old address was rejected at the same polling station. That should not have happened.
"The address on the ID is not relevant," says Maribeth Witzel-Behl, the Madison city clerk. "You have proven your address in registering to vote."
The real test of the new requirements will come during the April 3 spring election and the November general election for president.
Andrea Kaminski, executive director of the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin, says Tuesday's primary may not typically draw the people who are most at risk from the voter ID law, including seniors, minorities and students.
And, she adds, "We don't know how many people just don't even try because they've heard about this new law and are concerned they don't have what they need."
The League has mounted one of three legal challenges to the state's voter ID law. How these lawsuits advance may also affect the voting landscape in Wisconsin later this year.
"We'll have to watch the courts to see how the challenges play out," says Stacy Harbaugh of the ACLU of Wisconsin, which has filed a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Wisconsin's voter ID law. "Who knows how far the lawsuits will have progressed."
