“Once the law is in the constitution itself, it’s very difficult to change. It is hard to argue something is unconstitutional when it’s actually in the constitution,”

— Barry Burden, director of the UW-Madison Election Research Center. 

(from the March 30, 2025 Madison Commons article “In Tuesday’s election, voters will decide on amendment that could enshrine voter ID requirements in the state’s constitution”)

On April 1, voters across the state won’t only be selecting their next Wisconsin Supreme Court justice. They will vote on a referendum on whether to enshrine voter identification laws in the state’s constitution.

The question at the bottom of the ballot will ask “Photographic identification for voting. Shall section 1m of article III of the constitution be created to require that voters present valid photographic identification verifying their identity in order to vote in any election, subject to exceptions which may be established by law,” according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

This would not be a new requirement for Wisconsin voters. Wisconsin has had a voter ID law since it was signed by former Gov. Scott Walker in 2011. However, due to legal challenges the law wasn’t enforced regularly until early 2016, according to PBS Wisconsin.

These laws are not written into the state’s constitution. If this referendum passes, it would become much more difficult to challenge or overturn them in the future.

Read the entire article here.