MADISON, Wis. — A federal judge threw out multiple aspects of Wisconsin’s voter ID law on Friday, leaving the law itself intact but ruling unconstitutional many restrictions on voting passed by the GOP-controlled Legislature and Republican Gov. Scott Walker.
Two liberal groups filed a lawsuit in May challenging the laws, including a requirement that voters show photo identification. U.S. District Judge James Peterson agreed with arguments that the laws were enacted to benefit Republicans and make it harder for Democratic supporters to vote, and ordered a range of changes.
He ordered the state to quickly issue credentials valid for voting to anyone trying to obtain a free photo ID for voting. He struck down a restriction limiting municipalities to one location for in-person absentee voting, time limits on in-person absentee voting, an increase in residency requirements from 10 to 28 days, and a prohibition on using expired but otherwise qualifying student IDs to vote.
Earlier Friday, a federal appeals court blocked a North Carolina law that required voters to produce photo identification and included other provisions disproportionately affecting black voters. Judges in the Virginia-based 4th Circuit Court of Appeals said the law was enacted “with discriminatory intent.”
Earlier this month, a federal appeals court ruled that Texas’ strict voter ID law discriminates against minorities and must be weakened before the November elections.