Judith Davidoff
Trinity United Methodist polling location on Vilas Ave., Madison,April 1, 20025
Although 63% of Wisconsin voters approved enshrining the state’s existing voter identification law into the state Constitution, one election expert says it passed by “a surprising low mark.”
“That is partly the result of a more Democratic electorate that turned out for [Supreme Court candidate Susan] Crawford and is more skeptical about the need for voter ID,” Barry Burden, director of UW-Madison’s Elections Research Center, wrote in an email.
A February Marquette University Law School poll found that 73% of Wisconsin voters supported adding the voter ID requirement to the state Constitution.
“Some voters might also have become aware that the vote would put something already in state law into the state constitution, a step that might seem excessive,” Burden added.
Molly Carmichael, communications director of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, which opposed the amendment, says the group expected a challenge Tuesday evening, given strong polling in support of the amendment. Carmichael attributed the tighter-than-expected margin to the efforts of volunteer groups like the League of Women Voters to “make sure that voters understand what the question actually means.”
Republicans have argued the proposal is a necessary step to protect election security, given that a future Democratic-controlled Legislature or the state Supreme Court could overturn the state’s requirement that voters show a photographic form of identification in order to vote. That requirement was enacted in 2011 under Republican Gov. Scott Walker, but did not take effect until 2015 due to court challenges.
Republicans celebrated the approval of the amendment Tuesday evening. On his Truth Social platform, President Donald Trump in all-caps called the approval a “BIG WIN FOR REPUBLICANS.”
“IT SHOULD ALLOW US TO WIN WISCONSIN, LIKE I JUST DID IN THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION, FOR MANY YEARS TO COME,” Trump added.
Election fraud is rare in Wisconsin. The Wisconsin Elections Commission found in a 2024 report that local clerks identified 30 suspected incidents of fraud and voting irregularities between July 1, 2023, and Sept. 12, 2024. Around 4.7 million Wisconsinites are eligible to vote.
The amendment’s opponents — largely Democrats and voting access groups — said the measure would reduce access to voting and cement one of the nation’s most strict voter identification laws. Those opponents have also claimed that the measure would reduce turnout, particularly among marginalized groups such as Black voters.
Voters can get a state voter ID for free from the Wisconsin Department of Motor Vehicles. More details are available on the DMV’s website.
