But here’s the problem that Van Hollen and his Republican colleagues can never quite get around: There is no evidence of significant voter fraud that this law would prevent. It’s a solution in search of a problem.
Voter ID is an unfair barrier for some elderly and minority voters. Dane County Circuit Judge David Flanagan said as much in March when he issued an injunction temporarily blocking the law. He ruled that the arguments of the plaintiffs – the Milwaukee branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the immigrant rights group Voces de la Frontera – were likely to be winners. He made the injunction permanent in July.