Cerny v. WEC

Cerny v. WEC is one of many cases, nationwide, built upon the baseless foundation that ballots from ineligible voters are throwing our elections. The Plaintiff in Cerny is demanding that Wisconsin officials use data from the Department of Transportation to verify the citizenship of Wisconsin voters. Unsurprisingly, DOT data was not intended for this purpose; and, if used for elections, its inaccuracy and irrelevancy threatens to wrongfully disenfranchise Wisconsin voters. So, in October 2025, Law Forward filed an amicus brief in Waukesha County Circuit Court on behalf of Souls to the Polls (STTP), a nonprofit, nonpartisan education and advocacy organization encouraging the court to consider how damaging Cerny’s desired relief could be to historically marginalized voters.

Cerny’s complaint is grounded in related conspiracy theories that a deluge of noncitizens are voting in Wisconsin, and that nothing is being done to verify voter’s eligibility to cast ballots. In reality, incidences of noncitizens voting in Wisconsin are extremely rare and our protections against ineligible voters are effective.

Wisconsin statutes require clerks and the Wisconsin Elections Commission(WEC) to review voting irregularities and report suspected cases of fraud to state prosecutors. Wisconsin statutes and regulations also set process and penalty for fraudulent representation of citizenship. In WEC’s 2024/2025 review of elections, for example, WEC listed only one possible case of noncitizen voting in a state where millions of votes were cast over that period. Nevertheless, this case demands unnecessary and anti-voter actions which threaten to disenfranchise voters who lawfully enjoy the right to vote. The relief they seek could create a voting system built upon discrimination which would lead to confusion and delays on election day. On behalf of STTP, Law Forward asks the court to uphold the constitutional right to vote, to not separate citizens into classes, and to declare that the system works.

The Wisconsin Constitution protects qualified Wisconsin voters from infringements upon their right to vote. The Wisconsin Supreme Court has repeatedly confirmed that this fundamental protection overwhelms non-compliance with statutory voter registration requirements that result from election officials’ failure or neglect. Our amicus brief argues that right to vote is broadly, and repeatedly, protected throughout the Wisconsin Constitution, and voters should not be disenfranchised through no fault of their own.