Judge Blocks Wisconsin GOP’s Lame-duck Voter Suppression: “Not A Close Question”

Judge strikes down Scott Walker’s vote-suppression measure, but Republicans will fight on — at taxpayer expense

A fed­er­al judge ruled last week that Wisconsin Republicans vio­lat­ed a fed­er­al court order by approv­ing restric­tions on ear­ly vot­ing and oth­er elec­tion issues dur­ing a lame duck ses­sion before the new Democratic gov­er­nor was sworn in.
U.S. District Judge James Peterson blocked a law signed by out­go­ing Republican Gov. Scott Walker that lim­it­ed ear­ly vot­ing to two weeks before the elec­tion and restrict­ed in-per­son absen­tee vot­ing and the forms of ID that can be used to vote.
Peterson wrote that the leg­is­la­tion vio­lat­ed a 2016 court order that blocked the state from mak­ing sim­i­lar changes.“This is not a close ques­tion,” Peterson wrote. “The three chal­lenged pro­vi­sions are clear­ly incon­sis­tent with the injunc­tions that the court has issued in this case.”In that case, Peterson ruled that the state’s vot­er ID and lim­its on in-per­son absen­tee vot­ing were uncon­sti­tu­tion­al, the Wisconsin State Journal report­ed. The case was appealed to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals which is yet to rule on the mat­ter.The state argued that the new laws were dif­fer­ent from the 2016 leg­is­la­tion, which Peterson rejected.

“If the court accept­ed defen­dants’ argu­ment, it would mean that a leg­isla­tive body could evade an injunc­tion sim­ply by reen­act­ing an iden­ti­cal law and giv­ing it a new num­ber,” he wrote.
The elec­tion restric­tions were part of a larg­er set of bills passed by Wisconsin Republicans dur­ing last year’s lame duck ses­sion that were signed by Walker right before he was replaced by new­ly-elect­ed Democratic Gov. Tony Evers. Progressive groups Citizen Action of Wisconsin and One Wisconsin Institute sued over the moves.
Evers said after the rul­ing that he as “glad to see that a fed­er­al [court] again struck down the GOP’s uncon­sti­tu­tion­al attacks on our right to vote.”
A sec­ond law­suit filed by pro­gres­sive groups, includ­ing the League of Women Voters, Disability Rights Wisconsin and Black Leaders Organizing for Communities, that was filed in the same court is seek­ing to have all the new laws passed by Republicans dur­ing the lame-duck ses­sion void­ed, argu­ing that the ses­sion was ille­gal. A judge is yet to rule on the case but experts told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel Read more here:https://​www​.salon​.com/​2​0​1​9​/​0​1​/​2​2​/​j​u​d​g​e​-​b​l​o​c​k​s​-​w​i​s​c​o​n​s​i​n​-​g​o​p​s​-​l​a​m​e​-​d​u​c​k​-​v​o​t​e​r​-​s​u​p​p​r​e​s​s​i​o​n​-​n​o​t​-​a​-​c​l​o​s​e​-​q​u​e​s​t​i​on/