Wisconsin voter ID law leaves state braced for primary day chaos

[Eugene]

Source: The Guardian

Wisconsin voter ID law leaves state braced for primary day chaos

Country’s strictest voter identification law faces test in first high-turnout
election since it took effect as activists condemn effort to ‘suppress the vote’

Megan Carpentier in Milwaukee
Tuesday 5 April 2016 17.11 BST

“Arizona is going to have been a piece of cake” compared with Tuesday’s primary in Wisconsin, said Arvina Martin, a member of the Ho-Chunk Nation and chair of the Democratic party of Wisconsin’s American Indian caucus.

She was comparing the potential effects of Wisconsin’s strictest-in-the-nation voter identification law to the five-hour waits to vote during last month’s Arizona primary. (The US Department of Justice announced on Friday that it would investigate the problems in Arizona, which occurred when Maricopa County reduced the number of polling places from 200 in 2012 to 60 in 2016.)

Tuesday’s state primary in Wisconsin – which is also a general election for state and local judicial candidates – will be the first high-turnout election here since the law went into effect. The state’s government accountability board estimates that about 40% of the state’s eligible voters will go to the polls, which would be the highest turnout in a primary since 1980.

Advocates for and against the law agree that approximately 300,000 eligible voters lack eligible photo IDs – in part because, as a staffer for the voter ID bill’s lead sponsor, state representative Jeff Stone, told the Racine Journal Times in 2012: “When the bill was being drafted, we were trying to limit the number [of eligible forms of identification], not expand it.”

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Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/apr/05/wisconsin-primary-voter-id-law-leaves-state-braced-for-chaos

[Gothmog]

1. As Hillary Clinton Pitches Voting Rights On The Trail, Her Counsel Looks To Fight For Them In Court

Marc Elias, the chief counsel for the Clinton Victory Counsel program, is busy suing the GOP and fighting GOP vote suppression http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/16/voting-rights-lawsuits-_n_7594960.html

The general counsel for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s campaign is heading up three high-profile lawsuits against Republican-backed voting restrictions in what is shaping up to be a perfect political and legal storm leading up to the 2016 election.

The attorney, Marc Elias, is involved in lawsuits challenging measures passed in Ohio, Virginia and Wisconsin, arguing that laws cutting back early voting, restricting registration and requiring photo identification to vote, among other measures, disproportionately impact racial minorities.

Conservatives have argued such measures protect against voter fraud, and have called the lawsuits a political effort to energize Democratic voters. The financial involvement of the billionaire liberal philanthropist George Soros, who is supporting the suits, has only incensed them further.

There are high stakes to the lawsuits, as the Supreme Court displayed a certain skepticism about federal voting rights legislation when it struck down a key section of the landmark Voting Rights Act in 2013. That provision had required states and localities with a history of voting discrimination to first clear any changes to their voting laws with the federal government or in federal court. The VRA still bars voting procedures that discriminate against racial minorities, but the strength of that section hasn’t been tested since the court’s controversial decision two years ago.

So, while the politics of Elias’ cases have attracted most of the attention — Clinton recently decried measures supported by Republican governors, like fellow presidential hopeful Scott Walker of Wisconsin — there is an equivalent amount of intrigue on the legal side. Some of the provisions targeted in the lawsuits, like Wisconsin’s voter identification law, have already been challenged, while others, like Virginia’s photo ID law, haven’t yet seen the inside of a courtroom.

The GOP is very good at voter suppression and I am glad that Marc is fighting against the GOP. Unfortunately, the Wisconsin voter id law will be in effect for Tuesday primary. The Elias lawsuit is schedule to go to trial in May

[djean111]

2. I saw that the Hillary campaign was ecstatic about this - something along the lines of the

disenfranchised on the outside, unable to vote for Bernie. Newsflash - they are most likely not going to vote for Hillary. When someone like Bernie is embraced for his ideas and for the fact that he not part of "the establishment", the newly political are not going to embrace the very person who personifies the same old shit and the Establishment.

She really cannot spin that fast, y'all.

[mercuryblues]

5. well then

Maybe she should call her lawyer off that brought lawsuits against this. Maybe Bernie could chip in and send some lawyers to fight with her.

[djean111]

6. I am just telling you what I read here. Absolute glee.

Because a lot of the 300,000 would be college students, and would have voted for Bernie. Good that they would be on the outside, looking in, or something like that.

[pnwmom]

7. No, they're the opposite. This will impact minority voters the worst, and they are supporting

her more than 2 to 1 over Bernie (72 to 26), according to the exit polls.

[jaysunb]

3. And, spinless Democratic officials go along w/ this shit

with barely a whimper, yet they don't hesitate to beg me for money year round for one useless thing or another. This is the reason we live in a minority ruled society.

[Gothmog]

4. The Elias lawsuit will go to trail in May

I have read the latest petition and some of the pleadings. Here is a link that has all of the filings (there is a lag of a day or so between the actual filing and going on the website) http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/electionlaw/litigation/OneWisconsin.v.Nichol.php The Second Amended Petition is well done http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/electionlaw/litigation/documents/SECONDAMENDEDCOMPLAINTagainstAllDefendants032516.pdf

This case goes to trial in May. It will be a fun case to watch as Marc is a great attorney. Unfortunately, there is a good chance that this Wisconsin voter id law will be in effect for the November election. The Texas voter id law was struck down a while back and 7 federal judges have ruled against the law but it is still in effect.