by Thérèse Boudreaux
A legal firm has identified what it calls a voter identification loophole in Wisconsin’s election system that it says could undermine election confidence and potentially sow doubt about election results.
The Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty released a report highlighting the large increase since 2016 of voters who identify as “indefinitely confined,” a status that allows them to continually receive an absentee ballot without showing an ID. Wisconsin only requires proof of residence in order to register to vote.
While it found no evidence of voter fraud in previous elections, WILL cited the lack of confidence some have in the democratic process, warning that neglecting to fix the the issue could invite otherwise preventable challenges to the 2024 November election results.
“The potential 142,000 voters using indefinitely confined status in the 2024 election will doubtless be used to sow seeds of doubt about the outcome of the upcoming election, and responsible politicians on both sides of [the] aisle should work to fix this glaring issue in the future,” WILL said.
The September report found that despite many of the “indefinitely confined: voters no longer fulfilling the eligibility requirements for this status, election clerks across the state have neglected to remove them from the list.
“The indefinitely confined status was designed to provide those who are elderly, sick, or physically unable to get to the polls with an opportunity to vote. Although designed with good intentions, as our report shows, the system has a few key flaws that should be resolved,” WILL Policy Director Kyle Koenen said.
State law requires clerks to remove voters from the indefinitely confined list if they vote in-person or do not vote in any election.
According to state and city records reviewed by WILL, voters on the list that should have received a notice of removal after the April 2024 election, but did not, included 24,800 who did not vote in the April election, 2,788 who have not voted in any election since 2020, and 2,595 who voted in-person in the April election.
“While there is no concrete evidence of fraudulent votes under the indefinitely confined status, it poses a risk to election integrity by allowing many individuals to vote without providing identification. To address this issue, Wisconsin should follow the example of other states and implement common sense changes to the process for obtaining this status,” WILL stated. “Additionally, Wisconsin should continue to remove individuals from the indefinitely confined list if they fail to renew their status after not voting in an election.”
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Thérèse Boudreaux is an apprentice reporter covering Michigan and Wisconsin for TCS, under the mentorship of Midwest Regional Editor J.D. Davidson. Her work focuses on election-related news in these two states. Previously, she interned at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. Thérèse graduated with a major in politics from Hillsdale College in May of 2024, where she produced award-winning radio journalism.
