2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumWisconsin’s Voter-ID Law Could Block 300,000 Registered Voters From the Polls (The Nation)
Wisconsins Voter-ID Law Could Block 300,000 Registered Voters From the PollsOne of the countrys toughest voting restrictions takes effect for the April 5 primary.
Ari Berman
April 1, 2016
http://www.thenation.com/article/wisconsins-voter-id-law-could-block-300000-registered-voters-from-the-polls/
snip
Randle is one of 300,000 registered voters in Wisconsin, 9 percent of the electorate, who do not have a government-issued photo ID and could be disenfranchised by the states new voter-ID law, which is in effect for the first time in 2016. Wisconsin, one of the countrys most important battleground states, is one of 16 states with new voting restrictions in place since 2012. The five-hour lines in Arizona were the most recent example of Americas election problems. Wisconsin could be next.
Randles account is hardly unique in Wisconsin. The lead plaintiff who challenged the voter-ID law, 89-year-old Ruthelle Frank, has been voting since 1948 and has served on the Village Board in her hometown of Brokaw since 1996, but cannot get a photo ID for voting because her maiden name is misspelled on her birth certificate, which would cost $200 to correct. No one should have to pay a fee to be able to vote, Frank said.
Noted voting-rights expert Allan Lichtman, a professor of history at American University, says the Wisconsin voter-ID law represents the first time since the era of the literacy test that state officials have told eligible voters that they cannot exercise their fundamental right to votenot in the next election, probably not ever.
The law also targets students. Student IDs from most public and private universities and colleges are not accepted because they dont contain signatures or a two-year expiration date (compared to a ten-year expiration for drivers licenses). The standard student ID at only three of the University of Wisconsins 13 four-year schools and at seven of the states 23 private colleges can be used as a voter photo ID, according to Common Cause Wisconsin.
There's so much more in the article, it was hard to choose which excerpts to post. See it in its entirety (includes graphs and other information)
http://www.thenation.com/article/wisconsins-voter-id-law-could-block-300000-registered-voters-from-the-polls/
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)Gothmog
(145,666 posts)I have used this source to read all of the pleadings, expert reports and briefs in the Texas voter id case http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/electionlaw/litigation/OneWisconsin.v.Nichol.php Trial starts in May and it will tight to see if the court can rule in time to get rid of the voter id law by the November election The Second Amended Pleading is well written and uses some the arguments that worked in Texas http://moritzlaw.osu.edu/electionlaw/litigation/documents/SECONDAMENDEDCOMPLAINTagainstAllDefendants032516.pdf
HereSince1628
(36,063 posts)If THAT happens I wouldn't expect that WI voters will be voting under this law in Nov.
In some ways the BEST result would be a Yuuuge and obvious voter suppression, because that would get this stinking law purged from the books.
But, I don't think anything near 300K voters will be discouraged by the law, or turned away because of the law.