One Wisconsin Institute Statements on Gov. Tony Evers’ Executive Order Increasing Access to State ID

MADISON, Wis. — Gov. Tony Evers announced an executive order directing the state Department of Transportation to make it easier for legal voters to obtain a state ID required to vote, including expanding hours and locations of Department of Motor Vehicle offices.

One Wisconsin Institute first raised the issue of inadequate access to DMV facilities in 2011, when Scott Walker and legislative Republicans sought to impose a voter ID requirement. An amicus brief filed by the Institute with the U.S. Supreme Court highlighted the severe lack of access to Wisconsin Department of Motor Vehicle (DMV) offices and how it acted as a barrier to ballot access for thousands of legal voters.

The following are the statements of One Wisconsin Institute Executive Director Analiese Eicher:

“Legal voters in Wisconsin ought not be denied the right to have their voices heard in our elections because of bureaucratic roadblocks like a lack of access to a DMV. Yet that’s exactly the case in some parts of the state where offices are far away or only open for very limited hours.

“The real fraud in our elections is when politicians manipulate the rules to give themselves an unfair advantage, and for eight years we’ve seen Republicans try to suppress the votes of people that don’t support them.

“We applaud Gov. Evers’ leadership, taking Wisconsin in a new direction to help make voting easier and more convenient and to ensure every legal voter has the opportunity to cast a ballot and to have their vote counted.”