By Kirsten Adshead and Ricardo Torres | Wisconsin Reporter

MADISON — Wisconsin’s first elections in which voters were required to present a photo identification went off with just a few hitches Tuesday, in part due to low voter turnout, an informal survey of election officials around the state shows.

“Actually, it sounds like it’s going well,” said Dane County Clerk Karen Peters, who predicted a 10 percent voter turnout. “I think because it’s such a small turnout, the people (who were voting) were prepared.”
The GOP-led Legislature passed the voter ID law early last year, and Gov. Scott Walker signed it into law May 25.

Supporters say they believe the law helps combat voter fraud.

Critics worry that the ID requirement disenfranchises some would-be voters.

“The new law places an unfair burden on people who do not need a driver’s license, in particular the elderly, people with disabilities, low-income citizens and students,” according to a statement from the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin.

The League of Women Voters has filed one of three pending lawsuits challenging the law.

Andrea Kaminski, director of the league’s Wisconsin chapter, said the group on Tuesday was focused on helping voters.

“Some of our members, many of our members, are actually election officials, so they are in the polls helping people vote,” she said.

Election officials had put Voter ID on a trial run during elections since the bill’s passage — requesting, but not requiring, voters to show an ID before being given a ballot.

Tuesday marked the first time an ID was required for those who chose to vote in the spring primary for non-partisan elections.

Judicial primaries were held in Dane, Kenosha, Menominee-Shawano, Milwaukee, Oneida and Rock County circuit courts, according to the Government Accountability Board, which oversees the state’s elections.

Aside from that, though, elections were limited to highly contested local races in which a primary was necessary.

Like Peters in Dane County, Green Bay Clerk Kris Teske estimated voter turnout to be 10 percent for the five aldermanic primary elections.

“So far, the (poll workers) I’ve talked to, people are bringing their IDs, they’re great, just great,” Teske said.

People who didn’t bring an ID were allowed to cast a provisional ballot, which will be counted if they come back to the polls or city clerk’s office with an ID.

There were scattered reports of provisional ballot issues at polling stations around the state.

GAB spokesman Reid Magney said there had been one or two reports of problems, but no more than was expected.

“We had one report of someone who was not asked for an ID (who should have been asked), and one report of a poll worker who was trying to match an address on the ID to the poll list (which shouldn’t be done),” Magney wrote in an email.

“In each case, we’ve contacted the municipal clerk to take care of the issue.”

Susan Edman, executive director of the Milwaukee Election Commission, said the polls moved smoothly Tuesday.

“People have been prepared, they got their identification, very few complaints,” Edman said. “It’s been a very quiet election; voter turnout hasn’t been real heavy.”

Edman said there are several new chief inspectors and poll workers this year who have handled the change well.

In Wauwatosa, the election also was running well, according to City Clerk Carla Ledesma.

“By and large people have been agreeable to do what’s asked of them,” she said, noting a “few grumbles” along the way.

Ledesma said she has visited 24 wards but none had a major issue.

“There were no lines, it’s not that high of a turnout election,” she said. “Many of the locations had nobody when I was there.”

Clerks elsewhere in the state, according to Wisconsin Reporter’s survey and other news accounts, indicated little trouble with the first live run of voter ID.

Earlier this month, a Dane County judge denied the NAACP’s request for a temporary injunction to stop the law from being implemented.

That lawsuit, another filed in Dane County by the League of Women Voters, and a federal lawsuit filed in federal court by the ACLU challenging the voter ID law, are pending.