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Are doula services covered under Wisconsin Medicaid?

✇Wisconsin Watch
By: Madeline Heim ／ Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Reading Time: < 1 minute

Wisconsin Watch partners with Gigafact to produce Fact Briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. Read our methodology to learn how we check claims.

No.

Doula services aren’t covered by Wisconsin Medicaid – known as BadgerCare – as of April 2026.

Doulas provide emotional support and education around childbirth. Unlike midwives (which are covered), they don’t perform medical tasks.

A Wisconsin Department of Health Services spokesperson confirmed doulas aren’t covered as a stand-alone benefit for Medicaid recipients. 

State law requires the health department to get legislative approval before making changes to Medicaid. Doula coverage has been proposed by Gov. Tony Evers and Democratic lawmakers but has not come to pass.

According to the National Health Law Program, 26 states and Washington, D.C., are actively reimbursing for Medicaid coverage of doula care. Seven more are in the process of doing so.

A 2024 study from the American Journal of Public Health found Medicaid recipients with doulas had a 47% lower risk of cesarean delivery and a 29% lower risk of preterm birth than those without.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

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Are doula services covered under Wisconsin Medicaid? is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Has We Energies donated thousands of dollars to Tom Tiffany?

✇Wisconsin Watch
By: Hope Karnopp ／ Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Reading Time: < 1 minute

Wisconsin Watch partners with Gigafact to produce Fact Briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. Read our methodology to learn how we check claims.

Yes.

Tom Tiffany has received about $11,500 from the political action committee linked to We Energies.

Both state and federal records show the WEC Energy Group PAC shares an address with WEC Energy Group, which houses We Energies, the state’s largest utility provider.

Wisconsin campaign finance records show the PAC made four donations to Tiffany totaling $2,000 in 2010, 2012, 2016 and 2019. At that time, he was a Republican state lawmaker.

Federal Election Commission records, which capture his campaign for Congress, show the PAC made five donations totaling $9,500 to Tiffany between 2019 and 2023.

The PAC has not donated to Tiffany since he began his campaign for governor, records show.

Tiffany is far from the largest recipient of donations tied to We Energies.
The PAC contributes to both Democrats and Republicans in Wisconsin, including six donations totaling $136,000 to Gov. Tony Evers’ campaign.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

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Has We Energies donated thousands of dollars to Tom Tiffany? is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Has Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate Maria Lazar been endorsed by any Wisconsin judges?

✇Wisconsin Watch
By: Tom Kertscher ／ Wisconsin Watch
A scale weighing justice and a gavel
Reading Time: < 1 minute

Wisconsin Watch partners with Gigafact to produce Fact Briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. Read our methodology to learn how we check claims.

Yes.

Endorsements from nearly 50 current and former Wisconsin judges were listed on the campaign website of conservative Wisconsin Appeals Court Judge Maria Lazar as of April 2.

They were not added until late March.

At a debate April 2, Lazar’s opponent in the April 7 state Supreme Court election, liberal Wisconsin Appeals Court Judge Chris Taylor, said she knew of no judicial endorsements for Lazar.

Lazar said in early March: “If you look at my website, I don’t even list any of my endorsements yet; we may be posting some. I don’t think it’s necessarily important.”

Lazar’s endorsements include Supreme Court Justice Annette Ziegler. After this brief was initially published, Lazar’s campaign said two appellate judges have endorsed Lazar.

Taylor’s site lists endorsements from some 160 judges and former judges. They include four current justices, one former justice and 10 current appellate judges.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

We’ve written more extensively about this topic in a different article. You can read more about it here.

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Has Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate Maria Lazar been endorsed by any Wisconsin judges? is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Has Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate Chris Taylor been ‘pushing noncitizen voting’?

✇Wisconsin Watch
By: Tom Kertscher ／ Wisconsin Watch
A scale weighing justice and a gavel
Reading Time: < 1 minute

Wisconsin Watch partners with Gigafact to produce Fact Briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. Read our methodology to learn how we check claims.

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.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

We’ve written more extensively about this topic in a different article. You can read more about it here.

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Has Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate Chris Taylor been ‘pushing noncitizen voting’? is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Is it illegal for Wisconsin voters to bet on election results?

✇Wisconsin Watch
By: Eva Wen ／ Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Reading Time: < 1 minute

Wisconsin Watch partners with Gigafact to produce Fact Briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. Read our methodology to learn how we check claims.

Yes.

Betting on an election one is voting in is illegal in Wisconsin.

Politics betting has become popular on platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket. Just this year, people have placed lucrative bets on the capture of the Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and on the war with Iran, among other events. 

On Kalshi, people have placed bets worth tens of thousands of dollars on Wisconsin’s Supreme Court election on April 7 and the governor’s primary election on Aug. 11.

Ann Jacobs, Wisconsin’s Elections Commission chair, noted on X that voters’ ballots can be disqualified and thrown out if they were found to have bet on the election. 

Wisconsin Statute 6.03(2) specifies that no one is allowed to vote in any election in which the person has placed “any bet or wager depending upon the result of the election.” The idea behind the law has existed since 1849.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

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Is it illegal for Wisconsin voters to bet on election results? is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Did gas prices in Wisconsin top $5 a gallon in June 2022?

✇Wisconsin Watch
By: Hope Karnopp ／ Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Reading Time: < 1 minute

Wisconsin Watch partners with Gigafact to produce Fact Briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. Read our methodology to learn how we check claims.

Yes.

Gas prices in Wisconsin averaged above $5 a gallon in six southeastern counties in early June 2022.

According to the travel organization AAA’s page for Wisconsin, the statewide average gas price was $4.923 on June 12, 2022 – a record high that hasn’t been seen since.

Still, individual Wisconsin counties and metro areas exceeded $5 a gallon – a different measure than the statewide average.

A web archive of the same AAA page captured on June 16, 2022, showed the average price was above $5 in six counties, including Milwaukee County at $5.144.

Gas prices fluctuate for many reasons. Prices spiked in 2022, when Russia’s invasion of Ukraine pushed up crude oil prices, per the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Former Gov. Scott Walker called back to 2022 prices in the wake of U.S. strikes on Iran, which bumped prices past $3.50 in late March.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

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Did gas prices in Wisconsin top $5 a gallon in June 2022? is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Do some Wisconsin counties have no maternal health care providers?

✇Wisconsin Watch
By: Tom Kertscher ／ Wisconsin Watch
Reading Time: < 1 minute

Wisconsin Watch partners with Gigafact to produce Fact Briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. Read our methodology to learn how we check claims.

Yes.

Nine of Wisconsin’s 72 counties are “maternity care deserts”: no hospitals and birth centers offering obstetric care and no obstetric providers such as obstetricians.

The nine, according to the latest March of Dimes report (2024), are largely rural: 

Adams, Douglas, Forest, Kewaunee, Lafayette, Marquette, Oconto, Pepin and Rusk.

Maternal care deserts drive maternal mortality rates, which generally are higher for Black women and women in rural areas, according to a 2025 study by Brown University researchers.

Individuals in states with a high prevalence of maternity care deserts had 34.2% greater risk of maternal mortality and 18.3% greater risk of infant mortality, Yale University researchers found in 2025.

The Wisconsin Office of Rural Health at the University of Wisconsin-Madison recommended extending pregnant women’s Medicaid coverage to 12 months postpartum, from two months, to improve care and hospital finances.

Gov. Tony Evers recently signed legislation for that extension.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

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Do some Wisconsin counties have no maternal health care providers? is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Is Wisconsin losing millions in tax revenue to states where cannabis is legal?

✇Wisconsin Watch
By: Madeline Heim ／ Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Reading Time: < 1 minute

Wisconsin Watch partners with Gigafact to produce Fact Briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. Read our methodology to learn how we check claims.

Yes.

Cannabis isn’t legal in Wisconsin, so residents are purchasing it in states where it is, generating tax money for those states. 

Wisconsin borders three states with legal recreational cannabis: Michigan, which legalized it in 2018; Illinois, which legalized it in 2019; and Minnesota, which legalized it in 2023. 

Illinois tracks cannabis sales by in-state versus out-of-state purchasers. A 2023 analysis from Wisconsin’s nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau found Illinois collected $36.1 million in tax revenue in 2022 from out-of-state residents who purchased cannabis in counties bordering Wisconsin.

About half of cannabis sales in 2022 at dispensaries in Illinois counties that border Wisconsin were to out-of-state residents, the analysis found. 

Michigan and Minnesota do not track nonresident cannabis purchases. 
In Michigan, marijuana tax revenue is shared with local governments and tribes, as well as the state’s School Aid and Transportation funds.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

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Is Wisconsin losing millions in tax revenue to states where cannabis is legal? is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Is a claim that a massive data center will use only 4 Olympic swimming pools of water per year accurate?

✇Wisconsin Watch
By: Tom Kertscher ／ Wisconsin Watch
Reading Time: < 1 minute

Wisconsin Watch partners with Gigafact to produce Fact Briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. Read our methodology to learn how we check claims.

No.

Microsoft data centers in Mount Pleasant in southeast Wisconsin are projected to use much more water annually than would fill four Olympic-size pools.

Water to operate the facilities, including for cooling, will be supplied by the city of Racine.

The first data center, described by Microsoft as “the world’s most powerful data center,” is expected to begin operation in 2026.

Racine projects that facility will use 2.81 million gallons of water (roughly four Olympic pools) in 2026.

But a second data center is also under construction and a 15-center expansion is planned.

Racine projects total water usage will be 8.44 million gallons annually (roughly 12 pools).

The projections don’t include water that will be needed to generate electricity to fuel the data centers.

The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory estimated in 2024 that 92.5% of the water U.S. data centers used was to generate electricity, 7.5% for cooling.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

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Is a claim that a massive data center will use only 4 Olympic swimming pools of water per year accurate? is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Can employers fire workers for any reason in Wisconsin and nearly every other state?

✇Wisconsin Watch
By: Tom Kertscher ／ Wisconsin Watch
Reading Time: < 1 minute

Wisconsin Watch partners with Gigafact to produce Fact Briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. Read our methodology to learn how we check claims.

Yes.

At-will employment is the law in every state except Montana.

That generally means employees in every other state can be fired at any time for any reason.

Montana allows at-will termination only during an employee’s probation period. 

At-will also means employers can change the terms of the employment, such as wages or hours, with no notice.

There are at-will exceptions. 

Firing cannot be illegal. For example, an employee can’t be terminated based on discrimination. 

Also, employees who have a contract or are covered by union collective bargaining agreements are not at-will. Many government employees are not at-will.

Wisconsin has another exception, established by the state Supreme Court: A termination isn’t legal if it “clearly contravenes the public welfare and gravely violates paramount requirements of public interest.”

Other countries generally allow employers to fire employees only for cause, such as poor performance.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

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Can employers fire workers for any reason in Wisconsin and nearly every other state? is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Is Wisconsin’s population older than the national average?

✇Wisconsin Watch
By: Laura Schulte ／ Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Reading Time: < 1 minute

Wisconsin Watch partners with Gigafact to produce Fact Briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. Read our methodology to learn how we check claims.

Yes.

Wisconsin’s average age is slightly higher than the national average age. 

According to data from the Wisconsin Department of Health, which shows the average of ages between 2019 and 2023, the most recent data available, the national average is 38.7. 

In Wisconsin, the average age is 40.1 for the same time period.

Those numbers reflect the rapidly aging baby boomer generation, which is skewing Wisconsin’s population to individuals over 65, according to Wisconsin Public Radio.

Between 2010 and 2020, this demographic grew from 777,000 people to more than 1 million and is projected to expand to 1.3 million by 2030. Meanwhile, the working-age demographic in the state is holding steady, meaning that the population of those over 65 is growing as a percentage of the total.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

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Is Wisconsin’s population older than the national average? is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Is Reid Hoffman the largest donor to the Democratic Party of Wisconsin? 

✇Wisconsin Watch
By: Hope Karnopp ／ Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Reading Time: < 1 minute

Wisconsin Watch partners with Gigafact to produce Fact Briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. Read our methodology to learn how we check claims.

Yes.

Campaign finance records show Reid Hoffman is the largest donor to the Democratic Party of Wisconsin.

Hoffman, a venture capitalist and LinkedIn co-founder, has donated $15.4 million to the state party, according to campaign finance records.

The Wisconsin Ethics Commission confirmed in an email that online records reach back to 2008, though Hoffman only began donating to the state party in 2019. Wisconsin passed legislation in 2015 that allowed unlimited contributions to state parties.

State online campaign finance records show Hoffman’s name twice; he has profiles under different addresses.

Hoffman’s combined donations place him far above the second-highest donor, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, whose donations total about $5.9 million.

Hoffman’s name appeared hundreds of times in the latest release of files related to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Hoffman apologized in 2019 for his role in rehabbing Epstein’s image.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

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Is Reid Hoffman the largest donor to the Democratic Party of Wisconsin?  is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Is first-offense drunken driving a crime in Wisconsin?

✇Wisconsin Watch
By: Tom Kertscher ／ Wisconsin Watch
A scale weighing justice and a gavel
Reading Time: < 1 minute

Wisconsin Watch partners with Gigafact to produce Fact Briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. Read our methodology to learn how we check claims.

No.

In Wisconsin, unlike in nearly every other state, first-offense drunken driving is not a crime.

Wisconsin treats a standard first-offense operating while intoxicated as a civil violation. 

Punishment includes a fine of $150-$300 and driver’s license revocation for six to nine months.

Subsequent OWI offenses generally are crimes, but there is an exception.

If a second offense occurs more than 10 years after the first, first-offense penalties apply.

Otherwise, second and third offenses are misdemeanors. Jail time is five days to six months for a second offense and 45 days to one year for a third offense. 

Fourth and subsequent offenses are felonies punishable by jail or prison time.

New Jersey treats first-offense OWI as a traffic violation, but up to 30 days in jail can be imposed.

In New Hampshire, first-offense is a misdemeanor, but no jail time can be imposed.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

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Is first-offense drunken driving a crime in Wisconsin? is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Did Francesca Hong win the Democratic primary for Wisconsin governor?

✇Wisconsin Watch
By: Hope Karnopp ／ Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Reading Time: < 1 minute

Wisconsin Watch partners with Gigafact to produce Fact Briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. Read our methodology to learn how we check claims.

No.

Francesca Hong, a candidate for governor in Wisconsin, has not won the Democratic primary – because the election hasn’t happened yet.

A viral post on X claims Hong “just won” the Democratic primary for governor. But Wisconsin’s primary to narrow down candidates for governor and other partisan offices isn’t until Aug. 11, 2026. The general election is Nov. 3.

In other words, Wisconsin voters won’t see Hong on the ballot until late summer.

A Marquette University Law School poll – published the same day as the misleading post – found 11% of Wisconsin voters said they plan to vote for Hong in the primary, compared to 10% for Mandela Barnes. A majority of voters, 65%, were undecided.

Polls do not determine election outcomes, and there is no guarantee that Hong will maintain that lead over the next six months.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

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Did Francesca Hong win the Democratic primary for Wisconsin governor? is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Wisconsin Watch partners with Milwaukee Journal Sentinel to produce more Fact Briefs

✇Wisconsin Watch
By: Matthew DeFour ／ Wisconsin Watch
A large crowd gathers in a downtown plaza near a building with a sign reading "THE NEW FASHIONED," with high-rise buildings and a city skyline in the background.
Reading Time: 2 minutes

Wisconsin Watch has a new partner in the fight for facts.

Ahead of another pivotal election year, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and Wisconsin Watch are teaming up to produce more Fact Briefs, 150-word answers to yes/no questions based on claims made in the infosphere.

Wisconsin Watch has partnered with Gigafact since 2022 to produce more than 600 bite-sized fact checks. We’re part of a network of 18 nonprofit newsrooms across the country working to equip the public with accurate information to inform civic discussion.

The Journal Sentinel, part of the USA Today Network and the largest newsroom in Wisconsin, was an early adopter of PolitiFact, the Pulitzer Prize-winning fact-checking nonprofit founded in 2007.

As Journal Sentinel Editor Greg Borowski writes in a column today at jsonline.com, the switch to Fact Briefs will appeal to readers seeking accurate information quickly and with a clearer true-or-false format, rather than PolitiFact’s six-tiered “score card” for assessing whether a claimant is telling the truth. Fact Briefs focus less on the claimant, and more on the claim itself.

“This partnership will increase the number of Wisconsin-focused items and allow us to present them more quickly and in ways we think readers most want to get them,” Borowski writes.

The facts matter, even more so in a world where politicians and media influencers seem to habitually get away with bending, breaking or simply disregarding the truth. Fighting for the facts isn’t about picking a political side or committing to a particular worldview, it’s about nurturing a shared reality that forms the basis of a free and civilized society.

That’s why the courts, teachers, scientists, the folks managing your investment accounts and even the refs checking the instant replay cameras take the facts so seriously. Why should our political discourse be any different?

We’re excited to grow our capacity to keep the public informed, but we continue to need the public’s support. Whether this new partnership will continue after the November election will depend on support from Wisconsin Watch donors. Click here to find out more about how you can support the fight for facts.

Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletters for original stories and our Friday news roundup.

Wisconsin Watch partners with Milwaukee Journal Sentinel to produce more Fact Briefs is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Does Wisconsin have more registered voters than adults?

✇Wisconsin Watch
By: Hope Karnopp ／ Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Reading Time: < 1 minute

Wisconsin Watch partners with Gigafact to produce Fact Briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. Read our methodology to learn how we check claims.

No.

Wisconsin doesn’t have more registered voters than the adult population.

The claim, recently recirculated by President Donald Trump, combines two voter lists to misrepresent the number of active, eligible voters in Wisconsin.     

Wisconsin’s adult population is around 4.8 million, according to Jan. 1 estimates from the state Demographic Services Center.

On Feb. 1, Wisconsin had around 3.6 million active, registered voters, according to the Wisconsin Elections Commission. 

The state has 4.6 million inactive voters on a separate list. Voters move to the inactive list if they die, move to a new state or are convicted of a felony, for example.

Adding those two numbers produces a total of 8.2 million, more than the state’s total population.

State law requires an inactive list for record-keeping purposes. Plus, it helps clerks prevent fraud by catching someone registering under a dead person’s name, for example.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

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Does Wisconsin have more registered voters than adults? is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Do solar panels work in cold or cloudy climates?

✇Wisconsin Watch
By: Sue Bin Park ／ Skeptical Science
Reading Time: < 1 minute

YES

Solar panels still generate electricity on cloudy days and in cold weather, albeit less.

Clouds cut output as less sunlight reaches the panels, but they continue producing power from indirect light. Snow cover can temporarily block light, though it is typically not obstructed by thin layers of snow. Additionally, most solar panels in the U.S. run more efficiently in cooler weather, as heat lowers performance.

Winter generation can be lower due to shorter days, notably at middle latitudes; cities like Denver receive nearly three times more solar energy in June than December. This mainly affects what share of a home’s electricity solar covers, especially where heating raises demand. Average winter electricity use of U.S. homes is estimated to be six times that of summer use. 

Despite seasonal dips, solar still displaces fossil fuel electricity over the year, delivering large net emissions reductions across a panel’s multi-decade lifespan.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

This fact brief was originally published by Skeptical Science on February 19, 2026, and was authored by Sue Bin Park. Skeptical Science is a member of the Gigafact network.

Do solar panels work in cold or cloudy climates? is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Do 80% of Americans support voter ID?

✇Wisconsin Watch
By: Tom Kertscher ／ Wisconsin Watch
Reading Time: < 1 minute

Wisconsin Watch partners with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. Read our methodology to learn how we check claims.

Yes.

Polls show roughly 80% of Americans support requiring photo identification to vote.

Pew Research Center (August 2025): 83% of U.S. adults strongly favored or favored “requiring all voters to show government-issued photo identification to vote.” 

Rasmussen Reports (January 2025): Asked if requiring photo ID to vote is “a reasonable measure to protect the integrity of elections,” 77% of likely voters said yes.

Gallup (October 2024): 84% of U.S. adults favored “requiring all voters to provide photo identification at their voting place.” Also, 83% favored “requiring people who are registering to vote for the first time to provide proof of citizenship.”

The House-passed SAVE America Act, supported by President Donald Trump, is awaiting a Senate vote. It would require voter ID and proof of citizenship at the time of registration.

Thirty-six states request or require identification for in-person voting. Wisconsin requires it.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

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Do 80% of Americans support voter ID? is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Is child marriage legal in most states?

✇Wisconsin Watch
By: Tom Kertscher ／ Wisconsin Watch
Reading Time: < 1 minute

Wisconsin Watch partners with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. Read our methodology to learn how we check claims.

Yes.

Thirty-four states, including Wisconsin, allow for the marriage of a child under age 18, and 16 states have bans, according to counts by groups seeking to ban the practice.

The 16 include Minnesota and Michigan. 

The first bans were adopted in 2018.

Wisconsin allows a person who is at least 16 but under 18 to obtain a marriage license with permission of a parent or guardian.

A bill pending in the Legislature would eliminate that exception and require all people be 18 to marry. Co-sponsors have been added to the bill as recently as Feb. 9, but no hearings are scheduled.

Democrats sponsoring the bill say they want to stop men from marrying girls. 
No groups have registered to lobby for or against the bill.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

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Is child marriage legal in most states? is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Do most people arrested by ICE have a criminal conviction?

✇Wisconsin Watch
By: Tom Kertscher ／ Wisconsin Watch
Reading Time: < 1 minute

Wisconsin Watch partners with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. Read our methodology to learn how we check claims.

No.

Most people taken into custody by federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not have a criminal conviction, recent reports show.

PolitiFact reported Jan. 23 that as of Jan. 7, 74% of immigrants being held in detention did not have a criminal conviction.

The libertarian Cato Institute, saying it received leaked ICE data, reported in September that over the previous year, 73% taken into ICE custody had no criminal conviction; 8% had a violent or property conviction.

In late September, the number of people in immigration detention who had no criminal record outnumbered those convicted of crimes, The Guardian reported, citing ICE data.

ICE data for fiscal 2026, through Nov. 15, showed 72% of booked detainees did not have a criminal conviction.

Under 30% of people arrested in crackdowns in Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington, D.C., and across Massachusetts had a criminal conviction, The New York Times reported in December.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

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Do most people arrested by ICE have a criminal conviction? is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

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