WATERTOWN, Wis. — A damning report has emerged alleging a legal loophole that allowed thousands of people in Wisconsin to vote without showing photo ID, as required by state law.
The number of people on the voter rolls who are “indefinitely detained” is more than 144,000, a 116 percent increase since 2016, according to a report released Monday morning by the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty.
The state's accommodations, designed for the disabled, elderly, sick and infirm, drew attention in 2020 when Wisconsin's two largest cities, Milwaukee and Madison, encouraged residents to use a little-known law that allowed them to vote without photo ID during COVID-19 restrictions.
President Biden won the state by about 21,000 votes in 2020. Former President Donald Trump won by about 27,000 votes in 2016. Polls show Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris neck-and-neck this year.
Daly State residents are required to show government-issued photo ID when voting, but they do not have to when registering to vote. Voters in “indefinite detention” can check a box when registering to automatically vote absentee “in every election” unless their indefinite detention is released or they return their ballot.
Wisconsin Supreme Court Stop itBut the number of voter rolls held indefinitely has quadrupled, from about 67,000 in 2016 to more than 265,000 in 2020, equivalent to about 8% of the total votes cast four years ago.
Thanks to state laws requiring voter roll cleanup, the number of voters being indefinitely detained has fallen to just over 144,000, but it's still more than double the number in 2016.
The five cities with the largest number of voters under indefinite stay-at-home orders — Democratic strongholds Madison, Milwaukee, Green Bay, Kenosha and Janesville — all strongly supported Biden in 2020.
While report author Will Flanders was quick to point out that the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty has not found evidence of widespread voter fraud in Wisconsin using this qualification, the conservative law and policy core still believes there is reason for concern.
“There's a loophole here that allows you to not have to show photo ID,” Flanders told the Post.
WILL’s concern is that, as in 2020, bloated, indefinitely detained rosters could be used as an opportunity to question the election results.
Flanders said one solution would be to change the law to require a doctor's note, as some states do, or to require photo ID to gain certification.
Republican state lawmakers passed such a bill, but Democratic Gov. Tony Evers vetoed it in 2022.
The Wisconsin Elections Commission found in 2020 that 78% of indefinitely detained voters presented photo ID at some point, but that figure has not been updated.
WILL's investigation found that most city clerks identify and remove inactive voters from their status as required by state law, but the City of Madison failed to respond to WILL's open records requests, significantly exceeding the 10-to-14-day turnaround time expected by law.
The conservative group believes there could be up to 38,000 indefinitely bound voters who are no longer eligible to vote under state law.
Flanders issued a warning when asked what can be done about cities that don't comply with laws on cleaning up voter rolls.
“If a municipality does not comply with the legal requirements to remove an individual from the indefinite detention list, then voters in that area should lodge a complaint with the WEC,” Flanders said.
“WILL is open to discussing with anyone in the non-compliant community, particularly egregious cases.”
