Federal Judge Strikes Down Wisconsin Voter ID Law

[grandy]

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/federal-judge-strikes-wisconsin-voter-id-law-23518938

A federal judge struck down Wisconsin's voter identification law Tuesday, declaring that a requirement that voters show a state-issued photo ID at the polls imposes an unfair burden on poor and minority voters.

U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman sided with opponents of the law, who argued that low-income and minority voters aren't as likely to have photo IDs or the documents needed to get them. Adelman said the law violated the U.S. Constitution's guarantee of equal protection. He also said the law appeared too flawed to fix with legislative amendments.

Adelman's decision invalidates Wisconsin's law and means voter ID likely won't be in place for the fall elections, when Republican Gov. Scott Walker faces re-election. While Walker committed last month to calling a special legislative session if the law were struck down in court, his spokeswoman wouldn't commit to that Tuesday.

"We believe the voter ID law is constitutional and will ultimately be upheld," Walker spokeswoman Laurel Patrick said in an email. "We're reviewing the decision for any potential action."

The ruling could set a precedent for similar legal challenges in Texas, North Carolina and elsewhere. There are 31 states with laws in effect requiring voters to show some form of identification, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Seven states have strict photo ID requirements similar to the one a state judge struck down in Arkansas last week; that decision has been appealed to the Arkansas Supreme Court. Pennsylvania's voter ID law has been put on hold because of court challenges.

Earlier this month, President Barack Obama waded into the voter ID debate, accusing Republicans of using restrictions to keep voters from the polls and jeopardizing 50 years of expanded voting access for millions of black Americans and other minorities.

A Dane County judge had already blocked Wisconsin's law in state court. The state Supreme Court heard arguments in two separate lawsuits in February, although it's not clear when the justices will issue a ruling. For voter ID to be reinstated, the state's high court would have to rule that it doesn't violate the state constitution, and Adelman's decision would have to be overturned on appeal.

Wisconsin's Department of Justice, which defended the state law in court, pledged to continue the fight.

"I am disappointed with the order and continue to believe Wisconsin's law is constitutional," Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen said in a statement. "We will appeal."

Republican backers had argued that requiring voters to show ID would cut down on voter fraud and boost public confidence in the integrity of the election process. But Adelman, who was appointed to the bench in 1997 by President Bill Clinton, said the state failed to prove that voter fraud is a legitimate problem.

"(V)irtually no voter impersonation occurs in Wisconsin," he wrote in a 90-page opinion, "and it is exceedingly unlikely that voter impersonation will become a problem in Wisconsin in the foreseeable future."

Wisconsin's Republican-led Legislature passed the photo ID requirement in 2011, scoring a long-sought GOP priority. Former Gov. Jim Doyle, a Democrat, had vetoed a similar requirement three times between 2002 and 2005.

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

 

[Michchamp]

Race and racism have been in the news a lot lately. Ironic given the GOP & Right-wing Media's attempts to declare racism is over in this country. It's still very much alive, and they know how to manipulate it.

Not sure yet how this relates to the Texas law that I think the Supreme Court upheld in the last couple years.

I've been reading about this for years now. there's ample evidence out there to show that voter fraud is basically non-existent, though the initiatives to combat it certainly throw a lot of barriers up in front of lower income voters... who have trouble paying for state IDs to begin with & get time off work to travel and take care of something like that just to vote... and who tend to be minorities... who tend to vote Democratic.

I guess merely screwing with the Diebold voting machine software wasn't cutting it for the GOP...

 

[jwlcosu]

An unelected judge overturns the will of the electorate. Happening a lot lately. The judge is a bigot. He stoops to the level that presumes minorities are pathetic and incapable of securing personal identification.

If you are reading this, you show an ID to fly, to rent a car, to check into a hotel, to buy a beer at the airport, to do all kinds of things. But not to vote?

One good thing that community organizers could actually do would be to help get an ID for anyone that needs one. How's about it organizers? Set up a table in your neighborhood and find everyone that doesn't have an ID. Then help them get one. Problem solved. Everyone can then vote, and buy beer at the airport.

 

[Sbee]

An unelected judge overturns the will of the electorate. Happening a lot lately. The judge is a bigot. He stoops to the level that presumes minorities are pathetic and incapable of securing personal identification.

If you are reading this, you show an ID to fly, to rent a car, to check into a hotel, to buy a beer at the airport, to do all kinds of things. But not to vote?

One good thing that community organizers could actually do would be to help get an ID for anyone that needs one. How's about it organizers? Set up a table in your neighborhood and find everyone that doesn't have an ID. Then help them get one. Problem solved. Everyone can then vote, and buy beer at the airport.

Just shows how out of touch some people can be. So you have to show ID to fly on a plane or rent a car, something that poor voters do regularly. Why wouldn't they have an ID? They fly just like me, right?

 

[jwlcosu]

Just shows how out of touch some people can be. So you have to show ID to fly on a plane or rent a car, something that poor voters do regularly. Why wouldn't they have an ID? They fly just like me, right?

You miss the larger point. Getting/having an ID is table stakes. If one is seriously so out of it as not to be able to do that, they are too out of it to vote. Beyond that, all the community organizers have to do to legitimize themselves and the whole deal is to make "ID's for All" a priority. What better function could they possibly perform?

 

[Sbee]

You miss the larger point. Getting/having an ID is table stakes. If one is seriously so out of it as not to be able to do that, they are too out of it to vote. Beyond that, all the community organizers have to do to legitimize themselves and the whole deal is to make "ID's for All" a priority. What better function could they possibly perform?

Says who? You?

I say that elections should be the net results of the voices of the population. The law is on my side.

Felons lose their right to vote which Is never understood.

 

[TheVictors]

Why not require passports to vote? You have to show one to drive into Canada or Mexico or to fly into any other country. Only stupid, lazy people wouldn't be able to secure a passport, so what's the big deal.

And clearly buckdouche opposed Motor Voter because it made it too easy for stupid, lazy (you know, "them") people to so easily kill two birds with one stone.

That's sort of hypocritical and racist of you, you racist hypocrite.

 

[jwlcosu]

That's sort of hypocritical and racist of you, you racist hypocrite.

Chapter one of liberal playbook. When you have nothing else, play the race card.

 

[jwlcosu]

Felons lose their right to vote which Is never understood.

Someone doesn't understand this?

 

[Michchamp]

An unelected judge overturns the will of the electorate. Happening a lot lately.
...

when the will of the electorate enacts racially prejudiced laws to disenfranchise some portion of the population, that's what is supposed to happen. that's how the US Constitution works.

And spare us your righteous shit about him being "unelected"... if unelected judges do something you favor, you'd have no problem with it.

 

[Spartanmack]

Someone should invent an App that puts government IDs on iPhones - then all those millions of "poor" people in America would be all set. They wouldn't have to take a day off from not working, beg for bus fare or walk 20 miles up hill both ways in the driving snow, foregoing 3 meals to pay for a their state issued ID. Getting my drift? The idea that ID is an unbearable hardship for people or that states couldn't provide them free to the poor is ridiculous.

 

[Michchamp]

Someone should invent an App that puts government IDs on iPhones - then all those millions of "poor" people in America would be all set. They wouldn't have to take a day off from not working, beg for bus fare or walk 20 miles up hill both ways in the driving snow, foregoing 3 meals to pay for a their state issued ID. Getting my drift? The idea that ID is an unbearable hardship for people or that states couldn't provide them free to the poor is ridiculous.

you're so out-of-touch, you can't imagine what it is like to work in a minimum wage job that fires you for any absenteeism, or what it's like for a single mother that has to juggle childcare on top of a job.

and nevermind the fact that the idea we need to check ID's to prevent "voter fraud" is another idea that only exists in Republican Fantasy Land. There was really no basis for it.

Diebold voting machine fraud on the other hand... no problem there, right?

 

[Spartanmack]

you're so out-of-touch, you can't imagine what it is like to work in a minimum wage job that fires you for any absenteeism, or what it's like for a single mother that has to juggle childcare on top of a job.

and nevermind the fact that the idea we need to check ID's to prevent "voter fraud" is another idea that only exists in Republican Fantasy Land. There was really no basis for it.

Diebold voting machine fraud on the other hand... no problem there, right?

You think all those people have no IDs? how'd they get those jobs without ID? Most DMVs or Secretary of State are open 6 days a week and evening 2 days a week. Renewals are offered online or through the mail in most states. The idea that you think there are enough people without ID who can't get ID amounts to anything significant shows how out of touch you are. And voter fraud occurs all the time, nevermid the fact that the idea that it doesn't exist is Libtard Fantasy Land.

I like how you assume that the people who hacked Diebold voting machines were Republicans and that you basically accuse Diebold of fraud rather than negligence and ignore the real perpetrators of the fraud. And ACORN - government funded voter fraud...no problem there, right? hypocrite.

 

[Gulo Blue]

Most arguing over who could or couldn't get an ID and that person's qualification to vote is a proxy argument. We know the effect of these laws and it's the effect people care about when they propose these things. Just like gerrymandering. Just like when Democrats talk about getting rid of the electoral college. It doesn't have to be because they hate rural people.

Republicans are for it because it helps get more Republicans in office. However, it impacts votes differently across races, which we are very sensitive to because of our history. I think the judge is in the right. You don't have to assume anything about why a law impacts different races differently, you just need to be aware when it does. Even if he did need to figure out the reason, to assume he's stooping "to the level that presumes minorities are pathetic and incapable" is wrong. Poor people are less likely to have the things that require a person to get certain forms of ID. That has nothing to do with being incapable or pathetic and everything to do with your level of wealth.

 

[Gulo Blue]

Just because you could get an ID doesn't mean you're likely to be carrying it in your pocket when you happen to pass a polling place. Car owners don't have to take any additional steps to have their ID's with them whenever it's convenient to vote. Non-car owners are less likely to have the appropriate ID on them. That difference in convenience impacts behavior.

 

[Spartanmack]

Just because you could get an ID doesn't mean you're likely to be carrying it in your pocket when you happen to pass a polling place. Car owners don't have to take any additional steps to have their ID's with them whenever it's convenient to vote. Non-car owners are less likely to have the appropriate ID on them. That difference in convenience impacts behavior.

Your post prior to this makes some points, it still hints at racism if not discrimination against minorities who are less likely to have ID. this of course ignores the fact that it's probably even harder for the rural poor (hill billies, rednecks, whatever you call them) in low population density areas to get ID. You know, the ones who according to certain posters, vote Republican because they're too dumb to know what's good for them and the bible tells them to. But this post is off the charts crazy - "when you happen to pass a polling place" and there just "happens" to be an election going on. People go to vote with the intent to vote, it doesn't just happen randomly - take your ID with you, it's not a significant burden.

 

[Gulo Blue]

Your post prior to this makes some points, it still hints at racism if not discrimination against minorities who are less likely to have ID. this of course ignores the fact that it's probably even harder for the rural poor (hill billies, rednecks, whatever you call them) in low population density areas to get ID. You know, the ones who according to certain posters, vote Republican because they're too dumb to know what's good for them and the bible tells them to. But this post is off the charts crazy - "when you happen to pass a polling place" and there just "happens" to be an election going on. People go to vote with the intent to vote, it doesn't just happen randomly - take your ID with you, it's not a significant burden.

If you live spend time in a city, this does happen. I don't think I ever voted in a local election until this did happen.

...but again, this is just a proxy argument. You know it makes a difference. If it didn't, you wouldn't care so much.

 

[Gulo Blue]

Such BS. "It's not a burden, it's trivial, hardly worth worrying about...BUT WE REALLY WANT IT TO BE LAW!"

 

[Sbee]

Your post prior to this makes some points, it still hints at racism if not discrimination against minorities who are less likely to have ID. this of course ignores the fact that it's probably even harder for the rural poor (hill billies, rednecks, whatever you call them) in low population density areas to get ID. You know, the ones who according to certain posters, vote Republican because they're too dumb to know what's good for them and the bible tells them to. But this post is off the charts crazy - "when you happen to pass a polling place" and there just "happens" to be an election going on. People go to vote with the intent to vote, it doesn't just happen randomly - take your ID with you, it's not a significant burden.

as to the rural poor, we shouldn't do anything that would inhibit their ability to vote either. this isn't about blocking the votes of the opposing party (at least that's not MY intention).

as for Diebold, don't you find it a bit suspicious that the CEO was an active fundraiser for W? it's a bit strange that he wrote a fundraiser saying that he was committed to delivering Ohio Electoral votes for the president? Diebold's HQ is in the cleveland area, also, he ended up resigning as part of an insider trading investigation.

 

[Michchamp]

... take your ID with you, it's not a significant burden.

OR just use a utility bill or something like that to prove your ID, as is the longstanding policy, since there's no evidence to support the GOP allegations of fraud that justified passing these laws in the first place.

You and your klan buddies should be shot into space for trying to pass shit like this. it's the 21st century for christ's sake.

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