BREAKING: Federal Judge Strikes Down Wisconsin Voter ID Law (Unfairly Burdens Poor, Minorities)

[Hissyspit]

Source: Associated Press

@AP: BREAKING: Federal judge rejects Wisconsin voter ID law, says it unfairly burdens poor and minorities.

FEDERAL JUDGE STRIKES DOWN WISCONSIN VOTER ID LAW

Apr. 29, 2014 2:29 PM EDT

MILWAUKEE (AP) — A federal judge in Milwaukee has struck down Wisconsin's voter Identification law, saying it unfairly burdens poor and minority voters.

U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman issued his long-awaited decision Tuesday. It invalidates Wisconsin's law.

Wisconsin's law would have required voters to show a state-issued photo ID at the polls. Supporters said it would cut down on voter fraud and boost public confidence in the integrity of the election process.

But Adelman sided with opponents, who said it disproportionately excluded poor and minority voters because they're less likely to have photo IDs or the documents needed to get them.

Wisconsin's law was only in effect for a 2012 primary before a Dane County judge declared it unconstitutional.

Read more: http://bigstory.ap.org/article/federal-judge-strikes-down-wisconsin-voter-id-law

[NYC_SKP]

1. Excellent news, with national implications. The RW is gonna fight hard this time around.

What with all that egg on their face for trying so hard to block ACA.

I love it.

[calimary]

2. NICE!

Good news! Wow!

[jwirr]

3. Great. One step ahead.

[hue]

4. Finally!!! We've waited so long for a ruling on this!!

[Robbins]

5. Wisconsin

Walker's relection may have gotten harder with poor and minorities able to vote In november now.

[benld74]

6. BOOM!

[Plucketeer]

7. Judge Lynn Adelman

Candidate for SCOTUS!

[Jefferson23]

8. Today is turning out to be a pretty damn good news day. K&R

[chknltl]

9. Especially great news! Right on U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman! nt

[Ash_F]

10. Really important. Hopefully sets a precedent. /nt

[Gothmog]

14. The Texas voter id law is very similar to the Wisconsin voter id law

There will motions for summary judgment filed this summer and the trial on the Texas voter id law starts on September 2

[AverageJoe90]

11. Thank you, Lynn Adelman. =)

[Gothmog]

12. This is great news

The opinion is 90 pages long but I am going to enjoy reading it. The Texas voter id law is very similar to the Wisconsin voter id law.

[Gothmog]

13. Here is a link to the actual opinion

http://pdfserver.amlaw.com/nlj/wisconsin-voterID-ruling.pdf

[postulater]

15. Excellent.

There can be no justification for any election rules that do anything other than encourage all eligible people to vote.

Now if we could just get John "Walker" Doe arrested.

[Lifelong Protester]

16. Hooray! We need some good news in WI!

Now get rid of that "poll watchers can stand as close as three feet to the voter" law.

[H2O Man]

17. Outstanding!

Recommended.

[mwyn8]

18. The real voter fraud

is elected officials restricting voters from Voting!

[riqster]

27. Election fraud (like you describe) is a serious problem.

Voter fraud almost never happens.

[PatrynXX]

42. hence Election Fraud

which happens often compared to Voter fraud that doesn't

[Gothmog]

19. Here is a good explanation of this opinion from Professor Hasen

Prof. Hasen is an expert on election law. http://electionlawblog.org/?p=60972

Here are my initial thoughts on Frank v. Walker, in which a federal district court held that Wisconsin’s voter id law both violates the Constitution and Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act:

1. This is about the best possible opinion that opponents of voter identification laws could have hoped for. It is heavy on both facts and on law. It is thoughtful and well written. It finds that a voter id law serves neither an anti-fraud purposes (because “virtually no voter impersonation occurs in Wisconsin and it is exceedingly unlikely that voter impersonation will become a problem in Wisconsin in the foreseeable future”) nor voter confidence purposes. It finds that it burdens lots of voters (up to 300,000) voters. It finds these burdens fall especially on Black and Latino voters and that the reason is does is poverty, which is itself the result of prior legal discrimination.It enjoins enforcement of the law for everyone, and expresses considerable doubt that the Wisconsin legislature could amend the law to make it constitutional. It is about as strong a statement as one might imagine as to the problems the voter id law.

2. Wisconsin is likely to appeal, and it is unclear how the case will fare in the 7th Circuit and possibly the Supreme Court. (Further making this complicated is that there are state case putting voter id on hold and now pending before the State Supreme Court.) A special twist is that Judge Posner of the Seventh Circuit made controversial remarks about voter id laws being a means of voter suppression, and expressing regret about his earlier decision in the Indiana voter id case. It is not clear what role, if any, he will play in any appeal.

3. Both the constitutional law and VRA section 2 claims are controversial. On the con law point, the judge purports to apply the “Anderson-Burdick” balancing test that the Supreme Court applied in upholding Indiana’s voter id law in the Crawford case. The judge purports to apply Crawford, but reaches a different result. It is not clear that this is a fair application of that test–which seems to suggest at most that the law be upheld as to most voters but create an “as applied” exemption for a specific class of voters. The judge said that this was not practical in this case given the large number of Wisconsin voters who lack id. It is not clear that the appellate courts will agree.

4. On the VRA issue, this is the first full ruling on how to adjudicate voter id vote denial cases under section 2. The key test appears on page 52 of the pdf: “Based on the text, then,
I conclude that Section 2 protects against a voting practice that creates a barrier to voting
that is more likely to appear in the path of a voter if that voter is a member of a minority
group than if he or she is not. The presence of a barrier that has this kind of disproportionate impact prevents the political process from being ‘equally open’ to all and results in members of the minority group having ‘less opportunity’ to participate in the political process and to elect representatives of their choice.” The judge also approaches the causation/results question in a straightforward way. It is not clear whether the appellate courts will agree or not agree with this approach, which would seem to put a number of electoral processes which burden poor and minority voters up for possible VRA liability.

In sum, this is a huge victory for voter id proponents. But time will tell if this ruling survives.

I would love to see Judge Posner on the panel that hears this case so that he can undo some of the damage done in the Crawford case.

This case will be used in the Texas voter id case.

[Dustlawyer]

28. Thanks again Gothmog! I am anxious to see what happens here in Texas as well.

My ex-wife changed her name back after our divorce, including on her voter registration. Since then she voted twice. When she received her most recent voter's registration card in the mail she discovered that they changed her last name back to her married name so that it no longer matches her Driver's license, making her ineligible to vote. I cannot wait until this state turns blue!

[Gothmog]

30. Your ex-wife should be able to correct this with voter registrar

Correcting an error is not a new registration and so there should not be a 30 day waiting period.

We are warning voters to check their voter registration cards. This will be more important for the general election as compared to the primary run off.

Chad Dunn is a good trial lawyer and I know that he will be happy with this opinion(Chad is representing Marc Veasey's group of plaintiffs). The DOJ has some really strong attorneys on this case. My real worry has been that the Corpus Christi federal judge will strike down the Texas voter id law but Priscilla Owen and/or Edith Jones will overrule that ruling on bogus grounds. That is what happen in the HB2 case where the 5th Cir. is the only Federal appellant court to uphold a TRAP law. Jones and Owen are really bad judges and are friends with Abbott. Abbott is putting a great deal of his prestige on the redistricting case and the voter id case.

Sondra Haltom was just hired by the DNC to set up voter protection teams in Texas under the Texas Democratic Party. I have worked with Sondra before and she is happy with the program that I have set up for my county. If you are interested, let me know.

[Dustlawyer]

37. She got it corrected already, it's just the fact that they had it correct, then changed it back

on their own accord after they passed the voter ID crap.
I do think they should come focus on Beaumont where we have 50% of the population that are predominately poor minorities. This was one of the last areas to turn Republican, and only through gerrymandering could they flip it.

[PatrynXX]

43. the registration cards we recieved in 2012 are almost all worn off.

made of cheap paper and poorly printed. I will be surprised if they let me vote with this.

[HuskyOffset]

47. I'm confused...

At the top it says:

This is about the best possible opinion that opponents of voter identification laws could have hoped for.

but at the bottom it says:

In sum, this is a huge victory for voter id proponents.

Well . . . which is it?

[Gothmog]

51. Prof Hasen has updated article

The revised article now states thar this a Hugh victory for voter iid opponents. Even law professors can make mistakes

[HuskyOffset]

53. Thank you!

Excellent, thank you Gothmog! I figured it was a typo, but that little bit of doubt was harshing my happiness buzz over the ruling. If I were a smarter person, I'd be able to figure it out by reading the ruling, but alas, legalese makes my head hurt. Thanks for updating us on the professor's correction.

[Stallion]

20. Key Finding: Virtually No Evidence of Past Voter Fraud

Republicans can babble on until their are blue in the face about rampant but when an evidentiary record is required Courts almost always determine there is no such evidence

[3catwoman3]

21. Excellent.

Perhaps the RWNJs have overplayed their hand and are about to to find a few bite marks on their interfering fingers.

[malthaussen]

22. The legislatures make 'em, the Courts break 'em.

I wish we didn't have to go through this process every time, but that's how our system "works" these days.

-- Mal

[Blue Owl]

23. Suck it Focker

[myrna minx]

24. Wonderful! K&R

[unionthug777]

25. take that walker

you pathetic little pile of santorum.

[Judi Lynn]

26. Unexpected! Thank you, so much. We all needed that. n/t

[SummerSnow]

29. bada bing bada boom

[Scuba]

31. Hooray!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks Hissyspit.

[Cha]

32. YES!

[hue]

33. As predicted the WI AG has announced his appeal...

http://www.startribune.com/politics/national/257204711.html

Wisconsin attorney general vows to appeal federal court ruling striking down voter ID law

MADISON, Wis. — Republican Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen says he will appeal the federal court ruling striking down Wisconsin's voter identification law.

U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman ruled Tuesday that the law passed in 2011 is unconstitutional.

Van Hollen says, "I am disappointed with the order and continue to believe Wisconsin's law is constitutional. We will appeal."

Van Hollen is at the end of his second term in office and is not running for a third.

[sheshe2]

34. Excellent news! eom

[BumRushDaShow]

35. Huzzah!

[Iwillnevergiveup]

36. My dad greeted me with this news

as soon as I walked in the door tonight. We're so very happy because we have some of the finest relatives ever in WI and we dearly love them. Have been commiserating with them for years since Stalker was elected and eeked out the recall. Wisconsin deserves better!

K&R

[AllyCat]

38. We are doing the happy dance!

[RedRoses323]

39. Proud of My Home State!

[madville]

40. Could this apply to other things that require ID

Like boarding an airliner, buying alcohol, getting a fishing license, etc?

If if disproportionally affects the poor and minorities in voting doesn't it affect them in many other areas as well?

[Princess Turandot]

45. Americans have a constitutional right to vote. They don't have a constitutional right to fly fishing

That's the difference.

[madville]

50. The right to buy a firearm is constitutionally protected

And one has to show ID to exercise that right. So requiring ID to purchase a firearm is a burden on the poor and minorities if this applies.

[LanternWaste]

54. What specifically would lead this to apply to other things?

What specifically (and with relevance) would lead this to eventually apply to other things?

[madville]

55. If they don't have a state issued ID to vote

If the poor or minorities can not obtain a state issued ID and that makes requiring such an ID to vote unconstitutional, can't the same argument be made about having to display a state issued ID in order to purchase a firearm?

Both are rights protected by the constitution. How can it be unconstitutional for one and ok for the other?

[RandySF]

56. There's quite a leap between air travel and participating in democracy

[RainDog]

41. k&r n/t

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

44. Sad that I am conditioned to be surprised by such common sense these days, with

so much RW crap being sanctioned by the courts.

[sakabatou]

46. Good

[nikto]

48. FAIR ELECTIONS=GOP NIGHTMARE

Hell, actual representative government is the biggest GOP nightmare of all.

[madville]

49. How come the new laws get struck down

But the 30 or so states that have existing laws (I've had to show ID for a decade or two at least) can continue?

Does it make a difference that the state will give out a free state ID card?

[Jimbo S]

52. Adelman was nominated by Gov Tommy Thompson

a Republican. Oh, the irony!