Governor Evers Vetoes Bill That Would Have Tied Restitution/Court Costs With Ability to Vote

Thursday, August 14th, 2025 -- 10:00 AM

(Sarah Lehr, Wisconsin Public Radio) Gov. Tony Evers has vetoed a bill that would have stopped many Wisconsinites from voting because of unpaid restitution or other court-related fines and fees.

According to Sarah Lehr with the Wisconsin Public Radio, the GOP-backed proposal was among the bills vetoed by the Democratic governor last week. Currently, Wisconsinites with felony convictions can’t vote until they’ve finished their prison time as well as any probation, parole or extended supervision.

But the vetoed bill would have required Wisconsinites with felonies to pay any costs related to their convictions before their right to vote was restored. Voter eligibility has long been a hot-button issue in Wisconsin, one of the nation’s swingiest swing states where statewide election results often come down to a margin of less than 1 percent.

In his veto message, Evers called the right to vote a “core value of our democracy” and said the legislation would have eroded that. “This bill would create additional barriers to make it harder for individuals who have completed their sentences to have their right to vote restored,” Evers wrote. “My promise to Wisconsinites has always been that I will not sign legislation that makes it harder for eligible Wisconsinites to cast their ballot.”

The bill’s Republican sponsors, however, said the changes would have promoted accountability while incentivizing people to pay their outstanding costs. “It is a process to encourage the (payment of) restitution if it’s not being paid,” said state Sen. Dan Feyen, R-Fond du Lac, during a legislative hearing. “I will stand with the victims rather than the perpetrators, all day long.”

Meanwhile, Amanda Merkwae, a lobbyist with the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin, called the proposal “a modern-day poll tax.” She said the Senate bill would disproportionately hurt low-income Wisconsinites and people of color.

“Today, most Americans rightfully look back at poll taxes as a disgraceful and racist stain on our democracy, which is what makes the emerging effort to reinvent them for the 21st century so horrifying,” Merkwae told Wisconsin’s Senate Committee on Judiciary and Public Safety. “In light of the profound racial disparities in Wisconsin’s criminal legal system, we know exactly who SB 95 will disenfranchise the most.”

In order to have voting rights restored, the bill says people with prior felonies would need to pay all fines, costs, fees, surcharges and restitution “imposed in connection with the crime.”

That would include restitution that a judge orders someone to pay as compensation to victims. It would also include charges imposed by a court, such as surcharges for clerk costs and DNA analysis.

Additionally, Merkwae says the bill’s language appears broad enough to include debts that someone incurs as part of their incarceration. She noted, for example, jails and prisons in Wisconsin charge inmates for services, including making phone and video calls to their loved ones.

And, in Wisconsin, some county jails bill incarcerated people for daily “pay-to-stay” fees intended to partly cover that person’s costs for room and board.

Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.