by Tom Kertscher / Wisconsin Watch, Wisconsin Watch
April 3, 2026

No.

We found no evidence that liberal Wisconsin Appeals Court Judge Chris Taylor has supported allowing noncitizens to vote.

Taylor and conservative state Appeals Court Judge Maria Lazar are running in the April 7 Wisconsin Supreme Court election.

A Lazar ad claimed Taylor is “pushing for noncitizen voting.” 

Lazar’s campaign cited:

Taylor’s opposition, while a Democratic state lawmaker, to the Republican-backed 2011 state law requiring identification to vote.

Her introduction of a 2017 bill, which did not become law. It would have provided driver’s licenses to unauthorized residents, but the licenses would have been labeled: “Not valid for voting purposes.”

Taylor’s opinion, in a 2024 appeals court ruling, which said absentee ballots count even if voters’ witnesses fail to give election clerks their full address. Citizenship is required to vote in Wisconsin, but Wisconsin election officials generally do not verify citizenship when a person registers.

Sources

This <a target=”_blank” href=”https://wisconsinwatch.org/2026/04/wisconsin-supreme-court-candidate-taylor-lazar-noncitizen-voting-election-campaign-ad/”>article</a> first appeared on <a target=”_blank” href=”https://wisconsinwatch.org”>Wisconsin Watch</a> and is republished here under a <a target=”_blank” href=”https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/”>Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License</a>.<img src=”https://i0.wp.com/wisconsinwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/cropped-WCIJ_IconOnly_FullColor_RGB-1.png?fit=150%2C150&amp;quality=100&amp;ssl=1″ style=”width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;”>

<img id=”republication-tracker-tool-source” src=”https://wisconsinwatch.org/?republication-pixel=true&post=1315652&amp;ga4=G-D2S69Y9TDB” style=”width:1px;height:1px;”><script> PARSELY = { autotrack: false, onload: function() { PARSELY.beacon.trackPageView({ url: “https://wisconsinwatch.org/2026/04/wisconsin-supreme-court-candidate-taylor-lazar-noncitizen-voting-election-campaign-ad/”, urlref: window.location.href }); } } </script> <script id=”parsely-cfg” src=”//cdn.parsely.com/keys/wisconsinwatch.org/p.js”></script>

The president of Wisconsin’s largest mosque was detained by federal immigration agents, drawing accusations from local officials and religious leaders that the arrest was motivated by his statements against Israel.

Salah Sarsour, a Palestinian-born legal permanent resident of the United States, was taken into custody by nearly a dozen US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents on Monday in Milwaukee after he left his home, according to the Islamic Society of Milwaukee.

Supporters called for his immediate release on Thursday and his attorneys said he was detained on the grounds that he is a foreign policy threat. His attorneys say the claims have no merit.

Instead, they believe Sarsour, 53, was targeted for speaking out against Israel and for a conviction as a minor by Israeli military courts, which have faced scrutiny over allegations of limited due process and high conviction rates of Palestinians. Israel rejects those claims. The offenses included allegedly throwing rocks at Israeli officers, according to attorney Munjed Ahmad.

“Our government should not be doing the bidding of a foreign government,” Ahmad said of Israel. “There’s no question in my mind is that this is to stifle the discourse on the Palestinian narrative.”

Attorneys said Sarsour, born in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, has no criminal record in the US.

Sarsour’s attorneys have likened the case to that of Mahmoud Khalil, a former Columbia University activist who faces deportation because the federal government said he was a foreign policy threat.

An email message left on Thursday for ICE and the Department of Homeland Security was not immediately returned.

Sarsour has been the president of the Islamic Society of Milwaukee, the largest Islamic organization in the state, for five years. His attorneys say he’s held a green card for years and lived in the Milwaukee area. His wife and four adult children are US citizens.

His arrest prompted outcry from top elected officials, including Milwaukee’s mayor, Cavalier Johnson, who called it “an outrage”.

“He is a legal permanent resident. There is no substantive evidence he has done anything wrong,” Johnson said in a post on X. “This is another example of overreach and harm from the U.S. Immigration authorities.”

Sarsour is being held at county jail outside Indianapolis. His attorneys have filed a petition seeking his release.

“He is ready to fight tooth and nail to make sure that he’s not drug through the mud,” Ahmad said. “He wants to stay in this country.”

• A state law signed in March allows police to test a driver’s saliva for meth, cocaine, delta-9 THC and more if they suspect an OWI.
• No police departments appear to be adopting the test right away, but several expressed interest depending on funding and resources.
• Other states have similar programs, and the Dane and Manitowoc sheriff’s departments ran successful pilot programs in recent years.

A new state law allows police who suspect drugged driving to perform a rapid roadside test of the driver’s saliva to check for THC, opioids, meth and more, though police departments don’t appear ready to roll it out immediately.

State law already allows police to use breathalyzers to check blood-alcohol levels, but those devices don’t test for other intoxicating substances. The new law allows police to sample oral fluids – mainly saliva – when they suspect an OWI.

Law enforcement groups that advocated for the law change say drug impairment is more difficult to identify than alcohol intoxication. Plus, intoxication levels can decrease between the time police make a traffic stop and a blood sample is collected.

“Oral fluid screening would give officers an additional, objective tool to confirm the presence of drugs – much like a preliminary breath test does for alcohol – before making an arrest decision,” Dane County Sheriff Kalvin Barrett said at a December public hearing.

Wisconsin Act 99 became effective March 15, two days after Democratic Gov. Tony Evers signed it into law. The state Legislature passed it in February with bipartisan support.

Here’s what to know about the new law:

What does the law allow police to do when they suspect an impaired driver?

If police have probable cause to believe a driver is intoxicated, the officer can request a saliva or breath test, or both. That’s in addition to field sobriety tests.