A three-judge federal appeals panel handed Wisconsin election officials a major victory Wednesday, upholding the state’s special exemption from the National Voter Registration Act and leaving its costly voter-roll access system intact. In a 27-page ruling, the Seventh Circuit affirmed the dismissal of an election-transparency lawsuit brought by the Public Interest Legal Foundation against Wisconsin Elections Commission Administrator Meagan Wolfe. The ruling came from a panel composed entirely of Republican-appointed judges: Trump-appointed Chief Judge Michael Brennan, Reagan-appointed Judge Frank Easterbrook, and Bush-appointed Senior Judge Diane Sykes, who wrote the court’s opinion. At issue was an extraordinary exemption written into the 1993 National Voter Registration Act.
The federal law does not apply to states that have continuously permitted same-day polling-place registration, or required no voter registration at all, since August 1, 1994. Wisconsin qualifies because it has offered same-day registration throughout that period. North Dakota, Idaho, Minnesota, New Hampshire, and Wyoming are also exempt. The Public Interest Legal Foundation, an election-integrity watchdog, requested Wisconsin’s statewide voter-registration list in January 2024. The organization sought access under the NVRA, which ordinarily requires covered states to make records concerning voter-roll maintenance available for public inspection and copying at a reasonable cost.
