The state board that oversees elections in Wisconsin clarified Monday what student identification cards would be accepted under a new law taking effect next year that requires residents to show photo IDs at the polls to vote. The Government Accountability Board agreed stickers could be used by colleges and universities to indicate when student IDs were issued and expire. The law requires the expiration date to be no later than two years after the card was issued. But many campuses, including those in the UW System, issue IDs when students enter school and they are valid for four or five years, board attorney Mike Haas said. One solution to that problem would be to allow for stickers that have a shorter expiration date but are good only for purposes of voting, he said. Using stickers would allow colleges and universities across the state to more cheaply and quickly make their IDs acceptable for voting. The schools are not required to make any changes, but if they don?t students won?t be able to use their school IDs to vote. The University of Wisconsin-Madison is currently studying how to change its cards so they can be used for voting and hopes to have a redesign ready later this fall, said Don Nelson, the school?s lobbyist.
Office of Strategic Communication