Voter ID ‘Loophole’ Ripe ‘For Exploitation’ In Election Battleground, Legal Group Warns

A conservative legal group warned Monday of a “loophole” that allows thousands of voters in Wisconsin to cast a ballot without showing identification. 

The Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty (WILL) released a research report that said there are 144,347 people in the Badger State classified as “indefinitely confined,” meaning that they could cast an absentee ballot without showing ID. Indefinitely confined rates skyrocketed during the 2020 election and allowed tens of thousands to cast absentee ballots. 

“Wisconsin has a strong voter ID requirement in place, but there is one loophole that is ripe for exploitation. In Wisconsin, voters can claim they are ‘Indefinitely Confined,’ a status that allows a voter to continually receive an absentee ballot without ever showing an ID,” the report from WILL researcher Will Flanders said. 

Flanders said that while the number of voters classified as “indefinitely confined” had come down from 2020, it was still 116% higher than it was back in 2016 as of July 2024. He added that there were still thousands of voters who should be removed from the list under state law. 

“Per state law, clerks are to remove voters if they vote in-person or do not vote in any election. Those voters must sign and return a form to retain that status,” the report noted. 

According to Flanders, voters who should have received a notice of potential removal from the “indefinitely confined” list include 24,800 who didn’t vote in the April election, 2,788 who haven’t voted at all since 2020, and 2,595 who voted in person in April.

The areas with the highest number of indefinitely confined voters are the Democratic strongholds of Milwaukee and Madison followed by more divided areas like Green Bay and Kenosha. 

Indefinitely confined voter status was designed to help voters who are elderly or disabled and unable to make it to the polls. Voters just have to select that they fit the requirements for being indefinitely confined.

Credit: WILL.

“Under this statute, voters decide for themselves whether they meet the requirements and can receive an absentee ballot in perpetuity if they continue to vote in every election,” the report said. “Most critically, voters can receive ballots in this way without providing a photo ID. In Wisconsin, you only need to show a photo ID when you vote—not when you register.”

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During the 2020 election, election officials in Madison and Milwaukee said that effectively all voters could claim indefinitely confined status because of COVID. The Wisconsin Supreme Court later ruled against this guidance, after the election. 

WILL has argued that there should be tighter guidelines for receiving indefinitely confined status and sent out letters to 15 communities across the state to see if they were complying with state law about cleaning up their rolls. 

“Confidence in our elections continues to be dangerously low in Wisconsin and across the country,” Flanders told The Daily Wire. “Voter ID is a popular and well-executed way to keep our elections secure and free of fraud. While the Governor refused to fix this loophole in the years since 2020, efforts must be made by local election clerks to resolve it as much as possible.”

Wisconsin is expected to be one of the key battleground states that may determine the outcome of the 2024 election with polls showing a close race between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.