Wisconsin can no longer use federal voter registration form

The National Mail Voter Registration Form is no longer allowed in Wisconsin.

Waukesha County Judge Michael Maxwell this week banned the form because it asks questions not allowed by Wisconsin law, including a question about a voter’s race. The form also allowed people to register to vote in Wisconsin without providing other information required by state law.

The Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty sued over the form and won.

“The legal issue in the case was simply that the statute did not call for [the extra information], so by including those requests, the form went beyond the statute and was unlawful,” WILL’s Lucas Vebber told The Center Square. “The Judge never reached those issues though because he determined the form was never lawfully adopted in the first instance.”

Maxwell said in his order the Wisconsin Elections Commission “failed in [its] most basic duty” to register voters using the appropriate forms.

A spokesman for the Elections Commission didn’t respond to questions from The Center Square.

Neither WILL nor the Elections Commission knows just how many people in Wisconsin registered to vote using the national form.

Vebber said it doesn’t matter because the judge’s order only affects voter registrations going forward, adding “no one was removed from the voting rolls as a result of the decision.”

“The Court gave them 14 days to withdraw all their illegal guidance, and to inform clerks that the national form cannot be used in Wisconsin. WEC could still appeal the decision,” Vebber said.

Wisconsin voters can register online, at their local election office and in-person at the polls on election day.