MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN — As the polls officially closed in Wisconsin’s presidential primary, students at the private Catholic school Marquette University faced two-hour voter registration lines at their polling site in the basement of the student union.
In a record turnout election, the wait times were exacerbated by a newly-implemented and poorly-publicized voter ID law and cuts to early voting hours — both signed into law by Republican Gov. Scott Walker. Students in the massive line and impartial election observers told ThinkProgress they found the experience “ridiculous.”
Martha Pincus with the non-partisan League of Women Voters was one of several people monitoring the Marquette polling site on Tuesday, and shared her fear that many students were unable to vote.
“To me, this is just the epitome of voter suppression and disenfranchisement,” she said. “People have been walking away. I heard them say, ‘I skipped one class and I can’t skip another one.’ Then I heard other kids say, ‘I can’t believe this is what voting is about.’ But most of them were determined to vote and they stayed in line.”
One student near the end of the line, freshman Nicole Sapio, told ThinkProgress she was not prepared for the length of the wait. She had tried to vote earlier in the day, but after waiting an hour and 15 minutes, had to leave for a class. She returned in the evening, just before the polls closed, and was prepared to wait it out.
This is just the epitome of voter suppression and disenfranchisement.
“People want to do their civic duty but this is kind of ridiculous,” she said, noting that it was her first time participating in a presidential election. “Most of us want to vote and be a part of the process, but there’s just one location for all of Marquette and the surrounding area.”
Like many students from outside Wisconsin, Sapio also had to wait in an additional line to acquire a voter ID, because the state’s voter ID law does not accept student IDs from most of Wisconsin’s accredited colleges and universities. She said the voting experience back in her home state of Illinois is “a lot nicer.”
“They shut down the elementary schools on Election Day and you’re able to vote at any of the ones in your county,” she said. “It’s a lot easier than it is here.” Illinois does not require most voters to present a photo ID at the polls.
The League of Women Voters and the Wisconsin Election Protection network also reported Tuesday evening that the Marquette site was not allowing students to show poll workers their proof of enrollment on their phones or tablets, though the state’s law allows these electronic documents. The voting rights groups complained to the state’s Government Accountability Board, who reportedly ordered Matt Schachte, the Chief Inspector of the polling place, to accept the students’ documents electronically.
“To be fair, they had the same issue at UW-Madison, so he’s not the only one that didn’t get it,” Pincus said. “But he should have contacted the GAB hours and hours ago.”
Schachte defended his actions to ThinkProgress.
“My manual says they have to bring a separate fee statement, a document showing they are currently enrolled and have paid their fees,” he said. “My documentation says nothing about electronic. But nobody has been turned away. We did not turn away a single person. What we did is ask them to run down to the printer and ask them to print it out and bring it for us, and they have every single time.”