The voter ID law that we have come to (partially) understand was recently struck down after Dane County Circuit Judge Richard Niess issued a permanent injunction.

This law would have required voters to show a valid Wisconsin driver’s license or state-issued identification card, U.S. passport or U.S. military ID in order to vote in the state.

Niess claims the law is unconstitutional because it narrowly defines which people have the right to vote. He determined that the law would have abolished the right to vote for some people who would normally be classified as eligible voters but lack sufficient resources to obtain this new, valid identification.

According to Niess’ eight-page ruling against the law, “voter fraud is no more poisonous to our democracy than voter suppression.”

We at the Tribune believe that the law was far too strict. The problems caused by the law’s restrictions appear equally — if not more so — detrimental to the voting fraud it was initially trying to prevent and left many people feeling suppressed or discouraged to vote.

When a significant part of the population does not have the materials required to vote  or is unsure where to obtain them, the negatives outweigh the benefits.

It makes absolute sense for there to be to be some sort of photo identification used in the voting process. But was there really that much of a problem with voter fraud that we needed to issue a new voting law in the first place?

It is completely normal for a politician to propose new legislation and fail. But if Gov. Walker still wants to implement some sort of voter reform, he needs to take a different approach.

Some people saw no problem with the law, whereas others couldn’t understand how it was even passed to begin with. Regardless, we believe that when any new legislation is passed and results in such a large amount of confusion, it clearly needs to be reexamined. And this injunction gives us that chance.