Judge bars enforcement of photo ID requirements (WI)

[CatWoman]

Dane County judge on Tuesday permanently barred enforcement of the photo identification requirements of Wisconsin's voter ID law, saying that it imposes too great a burden on voters in Wisconsin than the state constitution allows.

Circuit Judge David Flanagan ruled that Wisconsin Act 23, the voter ID law, "tells more than 300,000 Wisconsin voters who do not now have an acceptable form of photo identification that they cannot vote unless they first obtain a photo ID card."

That requirement, he wrote, imposes a "substantial burden" upon a significant proportion of state residents who are registered to vote and non-registered but eligible to vote because of the cost and difficulty of obtaining documents needed to apply for a state Division of Motor Vehicles photo ID. That creates a "substantial impairment" to the right to vote guaranteed by the Wisconsin constitution, he wrote.

"I think that the judge recognized the severe flaw in Wisconsin's photo ID law in that it imposes an unreasonable burden on a very large number of people," said Richard Saks, lawyer for the Milwaukee Branch of the NAACP and Voces de la Frontera, which sued the state to stop the law.

Dana Brueck, spokeswoman for the state Department of Justice, which defended the law in court, said an appeal is likely but that a decision won't be made until after a full review of Flanagan's decision.

Read more: http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/crime_and_courts/article_0f7d9fea-d05d-11e1-81ef-001a4bcf887a.html#ixzz20vMINpU1

[malaise]

1. Bravo

This is HUGE!!!

Get thee to the greatest page

[HereSince1628]

2. "appeal is likely" I'd say highly likely

Prosser and Co are probably salivating all over themselves at a chance to protect this one.

[lindysalsagal]

3. Can I hear an a-men? This is far more important than anything else: It affects all states

and judges.

Fabulous. The judges might not be in the mormon's pocket, like they were for Shrub.

[mzmolly]

14. Legally ignorant here,

but how are all states and judges impacted?



Oh, and A-men!

[lindysalsagal]

21. Indirectly, states do look at each other's rulings. Judges don't have to follow other states

but if I were handed a decision like this, I'd sure as hell know what's happened around me.Also, if the GOP gets the word that this crap isn't gonna fly, they'll put their efforts elsewhere.

[mzmolly]

22. I hope you

are correct about the efforts being directed elsewhere. Thanks for the response.

[Wait Wut]

4. WOOT!!!!!

Next?

[HeiressofBickworth]

5. It infuriates me

when Repubs say they don't see the problem because photo ID is free at the DOL. What they fail to mention (maybe they are stupid and don't know it) is that there are requirements for obtaining that "free" ID that cost money and may be difficult to obtain. Not everyone can afford to spend the time or money it takes to get these underlying documents ON TOP OF the time/effort it takes to obtain that "free" ID from the DOL. Imagine you are elderly or disabled and are house-bound but you have been legally voting all your adult life. Imagine you are poor and have been legally voting all your adult life but that $100 or so to obtain the underlying documentation would mean the difference between eating that week or not. Voting is an absolute right guaranteed in the Constitution. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 eliminated anything resembling a poll tax.

"Section 2 contains a general prohibition on voting discrimination, enforced through federal district court litigation. Congress amended this section in 1982, prohibiting any voting practice or procedure that has a discriminatory result. The 1982 amendment provided that proof of intentional discrimination is not required. The provision focused instead on whether the electoral processes are equally accessible to minority voters. This section is permanent and does not require renewal." (wikipedia)

What part of the law don't the Repubs understand?

[malaise]

8. ReTHUGs have an election to steal

They will be stopped

[LiberalFighter]

12. A study really needs to be done to determine all of the costs for each group of people.

And it should also include time lost if necessary to make a trip to the local register of deeds office if in Wisconsin or to the health records in other states. It should be pointed out that not everyone was born in Wisconsin.

I'm wondering how many decided not to update their drivers license because of the time and cost associated with getting the needed documents? Getting a drivers license 30 years ago is different from now.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

17. What you said, and how in the fuck is a gun permit more valid than a goddamn student ID?

[SickOfTheOnePct]

18. You don'thave to be a resident or a citizen to get a student ID

Maybe you do to get a gun permit? Don't know, just guessing.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

20. It's a distinction without a difference. It's perfectly legal to vote in the state where live as a

student.

[SickOfTheOnePct]

28. I agree

My point wasn't that it wasn't legal for students to vote in states where they attend school, but rather that a student ID doesn't prove citizenship, which is required in order to vote. I know that in South Carolina, the issue with the student ID and voting is that it doesn't contain an address, which is required for the voter ID law that is under consideration.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

30. So what? In some states non citizens can get gun permits. So a gun permit isn't any more valid than

a student ID when it comes to voting.

[SickOfTheOnePct]

31. We're not talking about all states or any state

We're talking about Texas. I don't know why they accept concealed carry permits and not student IDs, I just put it out there as a possibility.

After looking it up, the reasoning was that there are too many different kinds of student IDs in Texas, therefore it would be confusing and lead to fraud. Not my opinion, that's from Texas.

http://www.theshorthorn.com/index.php/news/university/621-voter-id-bill-will-exclude-student-id-cards

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

32. ''how in the fuck is a gun permit more valid than a goddamn student ID?'' Was my question. Answer

is that it isn't.

[SickOfTheOnePct]

33. Not sure why you're pissed at me, I'm just giving my opinion

And posting what Texas says their reason is and why South Carolina says they don't want to accept student IDs for voting.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

34. Listen I get it. I know you think you're being clever. Bottom line is that it's a

bullshit and regressive legislation. I asked a question you then you showed to justify their reasoning. Oh I know I know you're just being Devil's advocate. It didn't work. That's not getting pissed. That's just pointing out where this whole discussion started.

[SickOfTheOnePct]

35. No, I wasn't playing devil's advocate and I wasn't trying to be clever

When you asked a question, I assumed that you were trying to get an answer. My mistake.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

36. Your mistake indeed. You want to justify this transparent attempt to make people jump

through hoops to be able to vote. Knock yourself out. Just don't expect others to buy into your bullshit.

[SickOfTheOnePct]

37. Where did I try to justify anything about any of this?

I told you what I thought it *might* be, then told you what the states claim it is. If you consider that "justifying" the practice, that's your problem, not mine.

I have no issue with photo IDs to vote IF a) they are provided free of charge and b) processes and procedures are put in place to either get people to where they need to go OR come to the people themselves to provide the ID. Unless those conditions are met, I'm opposed to them.

I don't like the idea that someone can walk into my polling place knowing my name and address and cast my ballot for me, but if the only way to avoid that is to keep eligible voters from voting, then keep it the way it is.

If you want to make baseless accusations, have at it.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

38. Yes you are justifying this. And you failed to prove that one of those IDs is

Last edited Wed Jul 18, 2012, 11:18 PM - Edit history (1)

somehow more reliable than the other. If the inconsistency of student IDs is the issue then propose a statewide student ID standard. By doing this so close to the presidential election completely out of the blue as dictated by ALEC these assholes know what they're doing. And I suspect so do you.

"I don't like the idea that someone can walk into my polling place knowing my name and address and cast my ballot for me, " Find me someone who's willing to go to jail for this bullshit then I may be interested. In a country where less than half of eligible voters vote. This is a solution in search of a problem.

I'm gonna give you some advise. Do with it what you will. If my memory serves you threw a fit the other day because some posters called you out on posting RW memes. You don't want to be called out on it. Then don't post RW tripe. As I said feel free to wipe your ass with it. But what can I say I'm a helper.

[HeiressofBickworth]

19. Easy answer:

they are pandering to the NRA.

[Gothmog]

6. Yeah

The Missouri State Supreme Court struck down their voter id law as a poll tax several years ago. These laws need to be attacked and litigated.

[shraby]

7. Wouldn't that pretty much put the kibosh to the rule for the November election? I may be

wrong, but changes can't be made within 90 days of an election...this would be a major change.

[southernyankeebelle]

10. You may be right BUT when do laws matter to republicans?

[longship]

9. Yes! A permanent injunction!

Hopefully this will not get appealed until after the election.

[LongTomH]

11. A victory; but, the war goes on!

This will have to be fought in every state where there's a Voter ID law. It's going to be an ongoing battle all the way!

[femmocrat]

13. Pray for Pennsylvania!

There is a lawsuit coming up this summer from the ACLU on behalf of an elderly woman who couldn't get an ID. Not sure of the details, but I'm praying for a wise judge to issue an injunction against PA's disenfranchisement of eligible voters.

The PA law is very restrictive and punitive.

[BumRushDaShow]

16. The PA ACLU/NAACP lawsuit comes before the judge next week (July 25). n/t.

[femmocrat]

23. Thank you! n/t

[Patiod]

24. I was talking to the ACLU about my dad being that case!

He was perfect - a registered voter who had lived in the same house since 1965, a vet, and no driver's license anymore.

He's not able to sit long enough to go to the DMV, so he can't get the photo ID done.

But because he's been voting absentee, and PA hasn't "fixed" that loophole yet (you can still vote absentee without photo ID), they didn't want to take the case. They wanted someone who wasn't qualified for absentee voting. .

But when they close the absentee loophole (and they will) I will be out in front of the election site, protesting.

PEOPLE IN PA: If you know anyone who doesn't have a driver's license, get them an absentee ballot request I'm working on a project in my district to get people registered, re-registered (if their names don't match) or get them absentee ballots if it's too tough to get them the documentation they need for their ID (for example, one very old woman in my area was born in a rural Virginia area and the place where her birth records were stored burnt down)

[soccer1]

29. I live in PA.....

I'm hoping that our voter ID law will be struck down in the courts. Restrictive and punitive is an accurate description......hope it's illegal!!

[BumRushDaShow]

15. K&R

Hoping that a similar order can happen here in PA. They are talking about more than twice the number of voters as WI being disenfranchised because of our poll tax law.

[Patiod]

26. Many Old People Don't Drive

We have to reinforce that over and over and over and over.

People who have been going door to door talking about voter ID say that many low-information voters, even Democrats, assume that because they drive and fly, everyone does, so the requirement are a-okay. You have to remind them that many older Americans (ex: WWII vets) can no longer drive, so they no longer have valid photo ID.
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/politics/city/20120718_Analysis__Philly_voters_over_80_would_be_most_inconvenienced_by_new_ID_law.html

[HappyMe]

25. YES!

[Lifelong Protester]

27. Knock 'em down one by one

This sick trick is not going to work for the Repubs