Voter ID is in effect in Wisconsin. Most voters need a photo ID to vote in person on Election Day, to vote early in person at the clerk’s office, and to vote absentee by mail. (Voter ID is not the same as voter registration.)

Most voters need one of the following kinds of photo ID to vote. If you have any of these, you have what you need (there is no special “voter ID card.”)

• Wisconsin drivers' license (current or expired since 11/8/22) (You cannot use an out-of-state license).
• Wisconsin photo ID card (from DMV) (current or expired since 11/8/22).
• U.S. Passport (current or expired since 11/8/22).
• Uniformed services (military) ID (current or expired since 11/8/22, or “indefinite” with no expiration date).
• Veteran’s Administration ID (VA ID) (unexpired or with no expiration date).
• Photo ID from federally recognized Indian tribe in Wisconsin.
• Naturalization certificate (valid only if issued no more than two years prior to the election).
• A photo ID card issued by an accredited Wisconsin university or college that contains date of issuance, signature of student, and an expiration date no later than two years after date of issuance (may be used even if expired before the most recent general election). If the university or college ID is expired, the student ID must be accompanied by a separate document that proves current enrollment.
• Receipt from DMV from applying for license or ID card (unexpired).

 Some voters do NOT need an ID to vote: 

• Permanent overseas and military voters.
• Voters who are elderly or disabled and consider themselves “indefinitely confined” to home can vote absentee by mail without a photo ID. (These voters are often called “permanent absentees.”) Mark  “indefinitely confined” on the absentee ballot application form:  https://myvote.wi.gov/en-us/Vote-Absentee-By-Mail.
• Voters in nursing homes or other care facilities who vote with “special voting deputies.”

The Wisconsin State Assembly proposed a $350 million plan to build a new prison.  The following is a joint statement from the ACLU of Wisconsin, African-American Civic Engagement Roundtable, Black Leaders Organizing for Communities (BLOC), Black Lives Matter to Wisconsin Unitarian Universalists, Dane County's Derail the Jail Coalition, The Demeter Foundation, The Dominican Center, End Domestic Abuse Wisconsin, EXPO (EX-incarcerated People Organizing), FCAB (Felmers Chaney Advocacy Board), Free The 350 Bail Fund in Dane County, GenderQueer Milwaukee, Grass Roots Northshore, JOSHUA, Kids Forward, Law Enforcement Action Partnership, Leaders Igniting Transformation (LIT), Madison Chapter National Lawyers Guild, Madison-area Urban Ministry, MICAH (Milwaukee Inner City Congregations Allied for Hope), Milwaukee Muslim Women's Coalition, Milwaukee National Lawyers Guild, Milwaukee Turners' Confronting Mass Incarceration, NAACP Milwaukee Branch, National Association of Social Workers – Wisconsin, Operation Welcome Home (OWH), Our Democracy 2020, Our Wisconsin Revolution--Dane County, People's Progressive Organizing Committee, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Wisconsin, Priceless Incite, Progressive Baptist Church, Rid Racism Milwaukee, Schools and Communities United, SOPHIA, Uplifting Black Liberation and Community (UBLAC), Wisconsin Council of Churches, Wisconsin Justice Initiative, Wisconsin Network for Peace Justice and Sustainability (WNPJS), Wisconsin Poor People's Campaign, Wisconsin Transgender Health Coalition, Wisconsin Unitarian Universalist State Action Network, Wisconsin Voices, WISDOM, and Youth Justice Milwaukee, YWCA of Southeastern Wisconsin, and 9 to 5 Wisconsin reacting to the announcement:

Wisconsin does not need a new prison.  It needs to adopt smart reforms in its criminal justice system that reduce prison populations, reduce recidivism and make communities safer and stronger.  Many people are trapped in systems of incarceration because they have committed minor crimes that are often the result of substance abuse problems or mental illness.  Rather than warehousing people in prisons, we must provide treatment in our communities.  Too many people who could be supervised safely in their communities serve long sentences that decrease their chances of successful rehabilitation and reentry.  Similarly, hair trigger revocations of probation and parole send too many people back into the prison system for rule violations. Our groups are committed to creating meaningful reforms in these systems.

During a time when many states are reforming their broken criminal justice systems and closing down unneeded or unsafe prisons, the Wisconsin legislature seems intent on locking up more Wisconsinites.   Building costly new prisons isn't a solution to crime.    

We need a bold plan that follows the lead of states like Texas, where investment in community-based alternatives to prison not only saved taxpayers money but led to a dramatic reduction in the prison population and, at the same time, a decline in the crime rate that was greater than the national average.

Wisconsin needs legislators who are committed to fixing what is broken.  It is past time to address the continued criminalization of people of color, of the homeless, of the chemically-addicted, and of the mentally ill.  We need to provide quality treatment and services.  We need to envision a new criminal justice system—one that is substantially smaller and committed to the personal safety, health, and dignity of every individual as well as the broader community.

We should not be creating new laws that ensnare increasing numbers of people, and then building a new prison to accommodate this costly and ineffective punitive approach to criminal justice.    We can develop effective means of holding people accountable that increase safety in the short and long term; and address the socioeconomic and structural factors that make crime likely in the first place.

Wisconsin spends billions of dollars on a failed system of imprisonment that does not address the root cause of systematic problems.  According to the state’s data, about a third of people who leave the system are convicted and sentenced to a new prison term within three years. 

Wisconsin must do better by following in the footsteps of other states and reducing corrections populations and costs by: expanding approaches that have proven track records for keeping people out of prison; reducing the number of prison admissions that don’t involve new convictions; and reducing recidivism by removing barriers to employment.

Sign up for the lobby day on March 13th here: https://go.peoplepower.org/event/action_attend/12805