Wisconsin judge pauses ruling that required voter citizenship checks

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A Wisconsin judge on Friday put on hold his order that requires elections officials to verify the citizenship of all 3.6 million registered voters in the battleground state before the next statewide election in February.

It now appears unlikely that the case will be resolved before elections in February and April and it may remain in limbo beyond the 2026 midterm election. A state Supreme Court race is on the April ballot and an open contest for governor tops the ballot in November.

“This is a procedural nightmare,” attorney Michael Dean, who brought the case, said Friday. “We have basically given up on the dream on having a definitive remedy in place in the near term, certainly for the spring primary elections.”

He argued it was better to take additional time to collect more evidence before the case moves forward.

The state Justice Department, headed by Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul, sought the stay of the Oct. 3 order while the case is being appealed. The attorney for two citizens who brought the lawsuit did not object to the stay while a series of other procedural legal motions are pending.

The case has taken many legal twists and turns as both sides argue over how to proceed.

Waukesha County Circuit Judge Michael Maxwell, who called the case “a mess,” issued his ruling from the bench after hearing arguments. He had previously put on hold a portion of his order that prohibits the Wisconsin Elections Commission from accepting any voter registration request that doesn’t include verification that the applicant is a U.S. citizen.

The fight over verifying the citizenship status of voters in Wisconsin comes as President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice has sought voter records from at least 26 states, including Wisconsin. The Justice Department is taking steps to crack down on voter fraud and noncitizen voting, both of which are rare but have been the subject of years of false claims from Trump and his allies.

The Wisconsin lawsuit was filed in August 2024 in the lead-up to the November presidential election by two suburban Milwaukee voters, including a longtime critic of how elections are run in the state.

They sought a court order requiring the Wisconsin Elections Commission and state Department of Transportation to verify the citizenship of all applicants registering to vote. They argued that the state elections commission is failing to investigate unlawful voter registrations and not taking steps to ensure that noncitizens are not voting.

The state Justice Department argued that there is no requirement or duty under Wisconsin law for the Elections Commission and Transportation Department to share and match data to remove noncitizens from the statewide voter list.

Wisconsin law requires voters to certify that they are U.S. citizens but does not require election officials to obtain proof or require voters to present any.

Maxwell ruled on Oct. 3 that 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.”

He ordered the commission to review the voter rolls before the Feb. 18 spring primary election to determine if anyone who is not a U.S. citizen is registered to vote. He also prohibited accepting any new voter registration request “without verification that the applicant is a U.S. citizen.”

Kaul appealed that order in addition to arguing for it to be put on hold while that appeal plays out. He noted in the appeal that the lawsuit did not identify a single instance of a noncitizen voting or registered to vote.