6.79 Recording electors.

(1m) Separate poll lists. The municipal clerk may elect to maintain the information on the poll list manually or electronically. If the clerk elects to maintain the list electronically, an election official at each election ward shall be in charge of and shall maintain the poll list. The system employed to maintain the list electronically is subject to the approval of the commission. If the clerk elects to maintain the information manually, 2 election officials at each election ward shall be in charge of and shall maintain 2 separate poll lists.

(2) Voting procedure.

(a) Unless information on the poll list is entered electronically, the municipal clerk shall supply the inspectors with 2 copies of the most current official registration list or lists prepared under s. 6.36 (2) (a) for use as poll lists at the polling place. Except as provided in subs. (6), (7), and (8), each eligible elector, before receiving a serial number, shall state his or her full name and address and present to the officials proof of identification. The officials shall verify that the name on the proof of identification presented by the elector conforms to the name on the poll list or separate list and shall verify that any photograph appearing on that document reasonably resembles the elector. The officials shall then require the elector to enter his or her signature on the poll list, supplemental list, or separate list maintained under par. (c) unless the elector is exempt from the signature requirement under s. 6.36 (2) (a). The officials shall verify that the name and address stated by the elector conform to the elector's name and address on the poll list.

(am) If an elector previously signed his or her registration form or is exempt from a registration requirement and is unable, due to physical disability, to enter his or her signature at the election, the officials shall waive the signature requirement if the officials determine that the elector is unable, due to physical disability, to enter his or her signature. In this case, the officials shall enter next to the name and address of the elector on the poll, supplemental, or separate list the words “exempt by order of inspectors". If both officials do not waive the signature requirement and the elector wishes to vote, the official or officials who do not waive the requirement shall require the elector to vote by ballot and shall challenge the elector's ballot as provided in s. 6.92 and treat the ballot in the manner provided in s. 6.95. The challenged elector may then provide evidence of his or her physical disability to the board of canvassers charged with initially canvassing the returns prior to the completion of the initial canvass.

(b) Upon the poll list, after the name of each elector, the officials shall enter a serial number for each elector in the order that votes are cast, beginning with number one.

(c) The officials shall maintain separate lists for electors who are voting under s. 6.15, 6.29, or 6.55 (2) or (3) and electors who are reassigned from another polling place under s. 5.25 (5) (b) and shall enter the full name, address, and serial number of each of these electors on the appropriate separate list. Alternatively, if the poll list is maintained electronically, the officials may enter on the poll list the information that would otherwise appear on a separate list if the information that would be obtainable from a separate list is entered on the poll list.

(d) If the poll list indicates that proof of residence under s. 6.34 is required and the proof of identification document provided by the elector under par. (a) does not constitute proof of residence under s. 6.34, the officials shall require the elector to provide proof of residence. If proof of residence is provided, the officials shall enter both the type of identifying document submitted as proof of residence and the name of the entity or institution that issued the identifying document in the space provided on the poll list and shall verify that the name and address on the identifying document is the same as the name and address shown on the registration list. If proof of residence is required and not provided, or if the elector does not present proof of identification under par. (a), whenever required, the officials shall offer the opportunity for the elector to vote under s. 6.97.

(dm) If the poll list indicates that the elector is ineligible to vote because the elector's name appears on the current list provided by the department of corrections under s. 301.03 (20m), the inspectors shall inform the elector of this fact. If the elector maintains that he or she is eligible to vote in the election, the inspectors shall provide the elector with a ballot and, after the elector casts his or her vote, shall challenge the ballot as provided in s. 6.92 and treat the ballot in the manner provided in s. 6.95.

(e) The officials shall then provide each elector with a slip bearing the same serial number as is recorded for the elector upon the poll list or separate list.

(3) Refusal to provide name, address, or proof of identification.

(a) Except as provided in sub. (6), if any elector offering to vote at any polling place refuses to give his or her name and address, the elector may not be permitted to vote.

(b) If proof of identification under sub. (2) is not presented by the elector, if the name appearing on the document presented does not conform to the name on the poll list or separate list, or if any photograph appearing on the document does not reasonably resemble the elector, the elector shall not be permitted to vote, except as authorized under sub. (6) or (7), but if the elector is entitled to cast a provisional ballot under s. 6.97, the officials shall offer the opportunity for the elector to vote under s. 6.97.

(4) Supplemental information. When any elector provides proof of residence under s. 6.15, 6.29 or 6.55 (2), the election officials shall enter both the type of identifying document provided and the name of the entity or institution that issued the identifying document on the poll list, or separate list maintained under sub. (2) (c). When any person offering to vote has been challenged and taken the oath, following the person's name on the poll list, the officials shall enter the word “Sworn".

(6) Confidential names and addresses. An elector who has a confidential listing under s. 6.47 (2) may present his or her identification card issued under s. 6.47 (3), or give his or her name and identification serial number issued under s. 6.47 (3), in lieu of stating his or her name and address and presenting proof of identification under sub. (2). If the elector's name and identification serial number appear on the confidential portion of the list, the inspectors shall issue a voting serial number to the elector, record that number on the poll list and permit the elector to vote.

(7) License surrender. If an elector receives a citation or notice of intent to revoke or suspend an operator's license from a law enforcement officer in any jurisdiction that is dated within 60 days of the date of an election and is required to surrender his or her operator's license or driving receipt issued to the elector under ch. 343 at the time the citation or notice is issued, the elector may present an original copy of the citation or notice in lieu of an operator's license or driving receipt issued under ch. 343. In such case, the elector shall cast his or her ballot under s. 6.965.

(8) Voter unable to state name and address. An elector is not required to state his or her name and address under sub. (2) (a) if the elector is unable to do so, but an election official, or another person selected by the elector, shall state the elector's name and address after the election official verifies the elector's proof of identification under sub. (2) (a).

History: 1971 c. 304 s. 29 (2); 1975 c. 85, 199, 200; 1977 c. 394, 447; 1979 c. 260, 311, 355; 1985 a. 304; 1989 a. 192; 1999 a. 49, 182; 2001 a. 38, 51; 2003 a. 265, 327; 2005 a. 451; 2007 a. 96; 2011 a. 23; 2013 a. 182; 2015 a. 118 s. 266 (10); 2015 a. 261; 2019 a. 48.

Requiring photo identification as proof of identification is not facially unconstitutional. It is clearly within the legislature's province to require any person offering to vote to furnish such proof as it deems requisite that he is a qualified elector. Requiring a potential voter to identify himself or herself as a qualified elector through acceptable photo identification does not impose an elector qualification in addition to those set out in article III, section 1, of the Wisconsin Constitution. The requirement comes within the legislature's authority to enact laws providing for the registration of electors under article III, section 2, of the Wisconsin Constitution, because acceptable photo identification is the mode by which election officials verify that a potential voter is the elector listed on the registration list. League of Women Voters of Wisconsin Education Network, Inc. v. Walker, 2014 WI 97, 357 Wis. 2d 360, 851 N.W.2d 302, 12-0584.

The burdens of time and inconvenience associated with obtaining acceptable photo identification as proof of identification are not undue burdens on the right to vote and do not render the law invalid. Milwaukee Branch of the NAACP v. Walker, 2014 WI 98, 357 Wis. 2d 469, 851 N.W.2d 262, 12-1652.

Even rational restrictions on the right to vote are invidious if they are unrelated to voter qualifications. However evenhanded restrictions that protect the integrity and reliability of the electoral process itself are not invidious. An Indiana statute requiring citizens voting in person on election day, or casting a ballot in person at the office of the circuit court clerk prior to election day, to present photo identification issued by the government did not violate constitutional standards. Crawford v. Marion County Election Board, 553 U.S. 181, 128 S. Ct. 1610, 170 L. Ed. 2d 574 (2008).

2011 Wis. Act 23, which created requirements that voters present photo identification in order to vote at a polling place or obtain an absentee ballot, does not violate either section 2 of the federal Voting Rights Act, 52 USC 10301, or the U.S. Constitution. Frank v. Walker, 768 F.3d 744 (2014).