A federal judge reopened the voter identification debate Tuesday when he struck down a new Wisconsin law, saying it discriminated against blacks and Hispanics, and renewing doubts about the Republican push for stricter voting laws across the country.
Democrats hailed the ruling and said they wanted it expanded to other jurisdictions, but Wisconsin vowed to appeal.
Some legal analysts said Judge Lynn Adelman’s decision appears to contradict a 2008 Supreme Court ruling that upheld a similar law in Indiana.
Judge Adelman said up to 300,000 Wisconsin residents — mostly blacks and Hispanics — could be turned away from polls as a result of the ID requirement. He said his calculation far outnumbered potential fraudulent votes.
