By Scott Bauer
Associated Press
MADISON - Zachary Ziolkowski will have to wait a while longer to vote for the first time.
The Wisconsin state elections board on Tuesday decided to stick with its current practice not to consider someone 18, and therefore eligible to vote, until their actual birthday.
Ziolkowski turns 18 on Nov. 5, the day after the election. He argued that under a common law interpretation as taught in his high school business law class, he actually completes his 18th year the day before his birthday, and therefore should be able to vote.
Zachary and his father, attorney Tim Ziolkowski, made their case to the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board after Zachary was turned down when he attempted to register to vote in Grafton.
But the board, comprised of retired judges, didn't buy it.
"I can't see changing the rules on the eve of an election," said board member John Franke.
The statewide voter registration system doesn't allow for anyone to register to vote whose 18th birthday is any later than Election Day, said GAB director Kevin Kennedy. Even if there were a change, board staff estimated that it would only affect between 50 and 150 people statewide, based on how many people registered to vote when they turned 18 the first week of November in the previous six years.
The Ziolkowskis could still plead their case in court and try to get a ruling before the election, which is just one week away. But Tim Ziolkowski, a patent and trademark attorney, said after the meeting he wouldn't know where to begin in filing such a lawsuit.
He argued to the elections board that there is no law or precedent in Wisconsin court cases to determine that someone is 18 for voting purposes on their actual birthday, not the day before.
"I want my opinion to be heard," Zachary Ziolkowski said when asked by a board member why he wanted to vote. "Everyone else is allowed to do it when they turn 18."
Associated Press
MADISON - Zachary Ziolkowski will have to wait a while longer to vote for the first time.
The Wisconsin state elections board on Tuesday decided to stick with its current practice not to consider someone 18, and therefore eligible to vote, until their actual birthday.
Ziolkowski turns 18 on Nov. 5, the day after the election. He argued that under a common law interpretation as taught in his high school business law class, he actually completes his 18th year the day before his birthday, and therefore should be able to vote.
Zachary and his father, attorney Tim Ziolkowski, made their case to the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board after Zachary was turned down when he attempted to register to vote in Grafton.
But the board, comprised of retired judges, didn't buy it.
"I can't see changing the rules on the eve of an election," said board member John Franke.
The statewide voter registration system doesn't allow for anyone to register to vote whose 18th birthday is any later than Election Day, said GAB director Kevin Kennedy. Even if there were a change, board staff estimated that it would only affect between 50 and 150 people statewide, based on how many people registered to vote when they turned 18 the first week of November in the previous six years.
The Ziolkowskis could still plead their case in court and try to get a ruling before the election, which is just one week away. But Tim Ziolkowski, a patent and trademark attorney, said after the meeting he wouldn't know where to begin in filing such a lawsuit.
He argued to the elections board that there is no law or precedent in Wisconsin court cases to determine that someone is 18 for voting purposes on their actual birthday, not the day before.
"I want my opinion to be heard," Zachary Ziolkowski said when asked by a board member why he wanted to vote. "Everyone else is allowed to do it when they turn 18."