Wisconsin State Worker Fired After Telling Coworkers About Controversial Voter ID Policy

Chris Larsen, a mail room worker for the Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services, was fired Thursday after sending an email to his coworkers alerting them to a memo circulated by the Department of Transportation that instructed DOT workers not to tell the public about free vote-only IDs, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports. An executive assistant in the Department of Safety and Professional Services confirmed the firing and said it is currently under review. Wisconsin’s new voter ID law allows those without identification to obtain a free vote-only ID, but if applicants don’t ask for it specifically, they are charged the normal driver’s license fee of $28. Larsen’s email instructed his coworkers “to tell anyone you know” about the free version of the ID. Larsen said he was told he was fired for “inappropriate email usage” and called his firing “insane.”