Associated Press | Posted: Thursday, March 15, 2012 8:05 pm | (9) Comments

A Wisconsin judge on Thursday upheld his temporary injunction of the state's voter identification law, a ruling that state attorneys say they will appeal.

Dane County Circuit Judge David Flanagan filed his decision against a state Department of Justice request to lift his March 6 temporary injunction. Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen said he will appeal the ruling as well as another injunction filed in a separate lawsuit challenging the law.

Van Hollen said he hopes both appeals are taken up quickly and before the state's April 3 presidential primary. Any rulings after that date would continue to scramble plans for the state's board of elections, which spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on an ad campaign to educate voters about showing ID at the polls.

"We have made these appellate filings far ahead of the timelines contemplated for appeal so these matters may be reviewed and concluded in anticipation of the April elections," he said in a statement.

Van Hollen filed the appeals separately to District IV court in Madison and District II court in Waukesha. He also suggested the filings be sent to the state Supreme Court for consideration.

Attorney Richard Saks called the ruling another victory.

"Whatever happens, we are preparing to do whatever is necessary to defend the injunction and ensure that all voters have the right to vote in the upcoming April 3 elections," he said in an email.

Flanagan's ruling said state attorneys have not shown reasonable evidence that halting the injunction would not harm the plaintiffs who filed the lawsuit. The suit was brought on last year by the Milwaukee branch of the NAACP and immigration rights group Voces de la Frontera.

The League of Women Voters also filed a lawsuit challenging the law last year. Dane County Circuit Judge Richard Niess granted a permanent injunction against the law less than a week after Flanagan's ruling.

Republicans have criticized Flanagan's ruling, especially after reports that he signed a recall petition in November against Gov. Scott Walker. Walker is named as a defendant in the NAACP lawsuit.

The NAACP and Voces have been in and out of court over the last several months trying to stop the law. They filed 40 affidavits describing peoples' difficulties complying with the law, but Flanagan earlier said the affidavits did not sufficiently demonstrate irreparable harm. He denied an initial request for a temporary injunction.

Flanagan's ruling defended his decision to later file the injunction. He noted new testimony from a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor highlighted new data on eligible Wisconsin voters that showed a significant portion of minority groups and elderly do not possess acceptable photo ID to vote.

He also defended his decision to hold a five-day trial in the case after the presidential primary, saying state attorneys had expressed they could not be ready in time. That trial begins April 16.

The Legislature passed its voter ID law last spring and it went into effect for the state's February spring primary. Few problems were reported then, but critics say that was because the election has a traditionally low turnout.

Four lawsuits at various legal stages are challenging Wisconsin's law. It's part of the ongoing national debate over whether eligible voters should show ID at the polls. Wisconsin's law would require voters to show either a state-issued ID card, valid driver's license, U.S. passport, a student ID that expires within two years or a military ID.

Wis. judge denies request in voter ID lawsuit