[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit [official website] ruled [opinion, PDF] Monday that the Wisconsin voter ID law [JURIST news archive] is constitutional. The ruling will allow the state to put the law [Act 23 text] into effect during the November 4 midterm elections. The ruling did not come as a surprise since the same three-judge panel reinstated the law last month, staying the injunction [JURIST reports] put in place by the US District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin [official website]. The judges noted that the photo ID requirement does not place a serious burden on the right to vote. Those in favor of the law tout its ability to prevent voter fraud, but those opposed claim that disadvantaged and elderly individuals may find it difficult to obtain ph, to ID. In the opinion Judge Frank Easterbrook stated, “For most voters who need them, the inconvenience of making a trip to the [department of motor vehicles], gathering the required documents, and posing for a photograph surely does not qualify as a substantial burden on the right to vote, or even represent a significant increase over the usual burdens of voting.”

Last week opponents of the law asked [JURIST report] the US Supreme Court to take emergency action and block the law before the November 4 election. In April a judge for the US District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin ruled [JURIST report] that the law violated the Voting Rights Act and the US Constitution. In May 2013 the Wisconsin Court of Appeals for the Fourth District ruled [JURIST report] that the law was constitutional. The Wisconsin voter ID law began its run through the courts in July 2012 when a judge for Wisconsin’s Dane County Circuit Court ruled [JURIST report] that the voter ID law was unconstitutional and issued a permanent injunction against the law’s enforcement.