Appeals Court Rules Wisconsin Voter ID Constitutional, WIGOP: Let's Go Even Further

Consider this a brief flash of hope in a sea of Republican gubernatorial and legislative disappointment.

Wisconsin liberals, always quick to find a favorable judge, quickly managed to bungle up the Voter ID law passed in 2011, but now an appeals court has determined one of those decisions was horseshit, from Reuters:

The Fourth District Court of Appeals overturned a March 2012 decision by Dane County judge Richard Niess, who ruled in favor of the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin, which claimed that the law is too burdensome, denying potential voters the right to vote.

The organization "makes no effective argument that, on its face, the requirement makes voting so difficult and inconvenient as to amount to a denial of the right to vote," the appeals court wrote in its decision.

Now for the asterisk:

The League of Women Voters of Wisconsin is considering its options with regard to further legal review, Andrea Kaminski, the organization's executive director, said in a statement.

"We're going to take some time and review the substance of the decision and decide whether or not to petition the Wisconsin Supreme Court," said Lester Pines, the attorney for the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin.

The law is currently not in effect as another state appeals court has yet to decide on different challenge. Two federal lawsuits also are pending on the state's voter ID law.

"While today's decision is an important step toward full vindication of the law, we recognize that other challenges are still pending that address different issues," said Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen, a Republican, in a statement.

No time to party just yet. But Act 10, still facing a few minor kinks here and there,is now effectively law despite a plethora of early legal challenges and the failed recall.

The Republican legislature, emboldened by the recent ruling, has introduced a new bill, AB225, that would not only reinstate the Voter ID law, but also limit early voting and alter the criteria for tossing out bad ballots. Lead author of the bill, Milwaukee-area rep Jeff Stone, spoke with WPR and offered a simple yet strong defense of the new legislation, which the awesome Governor, his pen all aquiver, would surely sign:

I also think... that having a government and elections that operate in a way people believe is accurate and fair is something that is also an important duty that we have as the legislature.

Wisconsinites, enjoy your majestic leader while you can. He's ours in a few short years.

posted by CAC at 06:53 PM

| Access Comments