The Wisconsin law passed in 2011 has never gone into effect because a judge handling a separate state lawsuit declared the measure unconstitutional soon after it was enacted… The trial starting Monday involves two federal lawsuits filed by civil rights groups, one of them brought on behalf of Bettye Jones, a 77-year-old black Brookfield woman [now deceased] who had difficulty voting because she had neither a state-issued driver’s license nor a birth certificate needed to acquire one. “We think voter ID laws like the one in Wisconsin have a disproportionate impact on people of color…” said Jim Eichner, an attorney for the Advancement Project, a Washington-based nonprofit that is supporting the federal lawsuit.
Federal trial set to begin Monday.
It’s a shame Advancement Project attorneys’ time and money wasn’t spent helping voters like Bettye get the ID they need to vote (and access many other services), rather than suing the state for the past two years.