Cerny v. Wisconsin Elections Commission

Two Wisconsin residents want to force the Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC) and the Department of Transportation (DOT) to implement a new citizenship-verification process. Public Rights Project filed an amicus brief before the Waukesha Circuit Court opposing the request on behalf of 42 election officials and 15 local governments.

The two residents are asking the court to:

• Require WEC to reject and deactivate registrations whenever DOT records might suggest the voter wasn’t a citizen at the time they got their driver’s license or state identification 
• Require municipal clerks to mandate that voter registration applicants provide documentary proof of citizenship
• Direct WEC to create and enforce rules, guidance, and procedures to ensure verification of voters’ and applicants’ citizenship status

Under Wisconsin law, municipal clerks play an important role in voter registration, including verifying that registered voters are eligible. The brief walks through the safeguards already built into the registration process. It also explains that DOT doesn’t reliably track citizenship. Using DOT data would likely disenfranchise legitimate voters, including people who naturalized after getting their ID. 

What’s at stake:

These changes are being requested just weeks before the August 11 primary and just ahead of the 2026 midterm election. It will lead to:

• Disenfranchisement and disruption: Eligible voters could be wrongly blocked from voting.
• More liability for local officials: Election officials across Wisconsin’s 72 counties and roughly 1,850 municipalities would face new legal exposure.
• Chaos close to an election: Rolling out new verification rules days or weeks before an election would upend election administration when officials can least afford it.

As explained in the brief, the U.S. Supreme Court has long emphasized that courts should avoid 11th-hour changes to election procedures that can result in voter confusion and discourage them from voting altogether.

In addition to opposing such late-in-the-game changes to election rules, PRP’s brief emphasizes the significant and negative downstream effects the proposed procedures would have on election administration.

Read the amicus brief.