OAN Staff Katherine Mosack and Brooke Mallory
2:24 PM – Wednesday, October 8, 2025
After a Wisconsin judge mandated an Elections Commission to verify the U.S. citizenship of all registered voters and new registrants by February 2026, the state’s Department of Justice requested a stay on the order — arguing it would require significant changes to the registration system and could disrupt voter rights.
The Wisconsin Department of Justice represents the Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC). This includes defending the WEC in court, advising on legal compliance, and handling litigation involving the commission.
Two Milwaukee voters had previously filed a lawsuit ahead of the 2024 presidential election, expressing concerns about how elections were conducted in the state. While Wisconsin law requires voters to be U.S. citizens, election officials have not been mandated to verify proof of citizenship.
Then, on Friday, Waukesha County Circuit Judge Michael Maxwell ordered the WEC to review the state’s voter rolls in time for their spring primary election on February 18, 2026 — determining if any illegal aliens are registered to vote — while ensuring that all newly registered voters are verified citizens.
Wisconsin has 3.6 million registered voters.
According to the order, the WEC would be forced to compare voter registration information with the state’s Department of Transportation records or other state databases. The order does not specify how the commission should verify the citizenship of individuals without a driver’s license.
Maxwell emphasized that the WEC 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.”
The judge also asserted that the state “is failing in the most basic task of ensuring that only lawful voters make it to the voter roll from where lawful votes are cast.”
Don Millis, a GOP commissioner, told reporters that he supports verifying voters’ citizenship, but understands the concern about whether the commission can accomplish the task by February.
“To me, that is more than a bad look,” Millis said, referring to the state’s current system. “It is inconceivable to argue that the commission does not have a duty to remove noncitizens from the voter rolls.”
However, the Wisconsin DOJ has since asked Maxwell to immediately pause his recent order, with Attorney General Josh Kaul, a Democrat weighing a gubernatorial run, emphasizing that the ruling would “require a massive overhaul of Wisconsin’s voter registration system.”
“A major modification to Wisconsin’s electronic voter registration process will require months of development and testing before the changes may be deployed,” he said in a request for a stay of the ruling, noting that it would take time for voters to obtain additional documents such as a U.S. passport, should new requirements be implemented.
Following the request by the state’s DOJ, Maxwell issued a partial stay of the ruling, temporarily allowing new voter registrations to proceed without proof of citizenship. However, the portion of the ruling directing the WEC to cross-reference voter rolls with Department of Transportation records remains in effect.
A hearing to address the state’s request for a full stay is scheduled for October 31, 2025.
Stay informed! Receive breaking news blasts directly to your inbox for free. Subscribe here. https://www.oann.com/alerts
What do YOU think? Click here to jump to the comments!