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By SCOTT BAUER
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Wisconsin Division of Justice on Monday requested a decide to instantly placed on maintain his order that might require elections officers to confirm the citizenship of all 3.6 million registered Wisconsin voters earlier than the following statewide election in February.
The state justice division, which represents the Wisconsin Elections Fee, is looking for the keep of Friday’s ruling pending an attraction.
The battle over verifying the citizenship standing of voters in battleground Wisconsin comes as President Donald Trump’s Division of Justice has sought voter data from no less than 19 states, together with Wisconsin. Trump’s Justice Division is taking steps to crack down on voter fraud and noncitizen voting, each of that are uncommon however have been the topic of years of false claims from Trump and his allies.
The Wisconsin lawsuit was filed in August 2024 within the lead-up to the November presidential election by two suburban Milwaukee voters, together with a longtime critic of how elections are run within the state.
They sought a court docket order requiring the Wisconsin Elections Fee and state Division of Transportation to confirm the citizenship of all candidates registering to vote. They argued that the state elections fee is failing to research illegal voter registrations and never taking steps to make sure that noncitizens usually are not voting.
The state justice division argued that there isn’t any requirement or responsibility below Wisconsin legislation for the elections fee and transportation division to share and match information to take away non-citizens from the statewide voter listing.
Wisconsin legislation requires voters to certify that they’re U.S. residents however doesn’t require election officers to acquire proof or require voters to current any.
Waukesha County Circuit Choose Michael Maxwell dominated on Friday that the elections fee is “violating state and federal statutes by sustaining an election system that probably permits people on to the voter rolls who might not be lawfully entitled to forged a vote in Wisconsin.”
The Wisconsin Elections Fee “is failing in probably the most fundamental process of making certain that solely lawful voters make it to the voter roll from the place lawful votes are forged,” the decide dominated.
He ordered the elections fee to evaluation the voter rolls earlier than the Feb. 18 spring major election to find out if anybody who will not be a U.S. citizen is registered to vote. He additionally prohibited accepting any new voter registration request “with out verification that the applicant is a U.S. citizen.”
Wisconsin Lawyer Common Josh Kaul, a Democrat who’s contemplating operating for governor, argued Monday that the court docket’s order would “require a large overhaul of Wisconsin’s voter registration system and the creation of latest verification necessities not in any other case supplied for by statute.”
Additional, the decide’s order doesn’t clarify what it could entail to confirm that an applicant is a U.S. citizen. Requiring extra paperwork, like a U.S. passport, will take time to implement, Kaul argued.
“A serious modification to Wisconsin’s digital voter registration course of would require months of improvement and testing earlier than the modifications could also be deployed,” he mentioned within the request for a keep of the ruling.
Any disabling of the voter registration system whereas these modifications are carried out would violate the rights of others who’re attempting to register, Kaul argued. The state receives a median of 200 on-line voter registrations every day, he mentioned.
Kevin Scott, an lawyer for the voters who introduced the lawsuit, mentioned in an announcement Monday that he hoped the state elections fee “does the precise factor” and works to implement the decide’s ruling.
A spokeswoman for the state elections fee didn’t instantly return messages looking for remark.
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