Republicans ask panel chairs to consider voter ID outreach

MADISON — A group of Assembly Republicans have asked the leaders of the Legislature's budget committee to approve funding for a public education campaign on Wisconsin's voter photo identification law.

The Government Accountability Board has asked the Joint Finance Committee for $250,000 to re-start education efforts the board dropped in 2012 after a legal challenge blocked the law. The requirement is now back in effect.

A dozen Assembly Republicans sent the finance committee co-chairs, Rep. John Nygren and Sen. Alberta Darling, a letter Thursday asking that the committee meet on the request. They said they'd like the education campaign to begin quickly given the November presidential election will generate a large turnout at the polls and they want things to run smoothly.

Nygren and Darling's spokespeople didn't respond to a message.