Policy Watch

High Stakes for Voters in Upcoming Wisconsin Election

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In Wisconsin, there is no such thing as “off season” when it comes to elections. In fact, Wisconsin voters are being asked to weigh in this spring on several public offices and a statewide ballot issue. With the April 1 election looming, early voter turnout is high.

The race is for Wisconsin’s state supreme court will decide the ideological balance of the state’s high court. The last state supreme court race in 2023 saw record spending of $56 million. This year’s race has surpassed the 2023 high, with an avalanche of spending by the campaigns and outside groups. Badger State voters will also be voting for the State Superintendent of schools, the state’s chief education official who will shape the future of schools across Wisconsin, and a host of local races.

Wisconsin voters will also be asked to weigh in on a statewide ballot issue, continuing a recent trend. In 2024, Wisconsin had five statewide ballot issues related to elections and governance—three passed and two failed.

April’s state Question 1 asks whether to write the state’s (among the) strictest-in-the-nation voter ID requirements into the state constitution.

As Politifact Wisconsin recently reported, it’s harder to vote in Wisconsin than almost anywhere in the nation due to strict voter ID laws that require valid photo identification to vote, as well as numerous other state voting requirements like requiring a witness signature on absentee ballots. 

If passed, a statewide referendum question asking voters to decide whether existing voter ID laws — including the photo ID requirement — should be enshrined in the state constitution. Whether Question 1 passes or fails, the state’s existing voter ID law will remain as a statute; the ballot issue simply asks whether it should be written into the state constitution too, making it harder for a subsequent legislature to change the law. In January, a divided Wisconsin Legislature approved a resolution allowing the question to be placed on the ballot in the April 1 election. 

Proponents argue that adding a constitutional amendment requiring a photo ID to vote provides stronger protections against ballot fraud and increases confidence in the integrity of elections. 

Voting rights advocates largely oppose the issue, calling it divisive and confusing to imply the proposed amendment is needed when state law already requires voter ID. They also point out the problems with having one of the strictest in the nation voter ID requirements – that it suppresses voting by people who are less likely to have one of the accepted forms of ID, which disproportionately impacts voters of color, people with disabilities, students, and senior citizens. 

“Enshrining this… law into the Wisconsin Constitution will make it much more difficult to repeal or even to modify,” noted Common Cause Wisconsin Executive Director Jay Heck in a recent news release.

Wisconsin voters can look up their polling place and hours for the April 1 election at My Vote Wisconsin.

About The Joyce Foundation

Joyce is a nonpartisan, private foundation that invests in evidence-informed public policies and strategies to advance racial equity and economic mobility for the next generation in the Great Lakes region.

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