MADISON — The citizenship status of all Wisconsin voters must be verified before the next statewide election in February, a Waukesha County judge has ordered.
The ruling from Waukesha County Circuit Judge Michael Maxwell requires the Wisconsin Elections Commission to review the state’s voter rolls over the next five months to determine whether anyone who is not a U.S. citizen is registered to vote.Maxwell also ordered election officials to verify citizenship of any new registrants. The ruling requires state election officials to verify citizenship by matching voter registration information to state Department of Transportation files or other state records, but did not outline how officials would verify citizenship for voters who do not have a driver’s license, for example.
The ruling is a win for Republicans who have put a sharp focus on whether noncitizens are voting in U.S. elections despite being banned by federal law from doing so. The lawsuit was filed by a Pewaukee resident and conservative attorneys in the lead-up to the 2024 presidential election.
U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, who is running for governor in 2026, called the ruling a “BIG win for election integrity.”
“This ends the system where voters simply affirm citizenship,” he said in a post on X.
State law currently requires voters to attest they are U.S. citizens but does not require election officials to obtain proof.
The process of verifying the 3.6 million people who are registered to vote in Wisconsin must be complete by the Feb. 18 spring primary election, according to the order.
Maxwell said the elections commission is “violating state and federal statutes by maintaining an election system that potentially allows individuals on to the voter rolls who may not be lawfully entitled to cast a vote in Wisconsin.”
The state Department of Justice on Monday asked Maxwell to stay his order, indicating DOJ will appeal the ruling on behalf of WEC.
In a separate filing from DOJ, a top-ranking WEC official told the judge that the agency would likely not be able to carry out the requirements of the order by February given the scope of the changes.
“The typical development cycle for even the most minor changes generally requires two to three months of work under ideal conditions, while major changes typically require eight to twelve months to complete,” WEC deputy administrator Robert Kehoe said of making technical changes.
Don Millis, a Republican member of the commission, said he supports verifying citizenship of voters but has questions about whether the commission can accomplish the task by February.
Millis said he did not support an argument from Department of Justice attorneys representing WEC that claimed state election laws “do not require the Commission to prevent non-U.S. citizens from appearing on the list or to remove non-U.S. citizens from the list.”
“To me, that is more than a bad look,” Millis said. “It is inconceivable to argue that the commission does not have a duty to remove noncitizens from the voter rolls.”
Molly Beck can be reached at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Judge orders Wis. election officials to check citizenship of voters
