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
IGOR DERYSH
JANUARY 22, 2019 11:00AM (UTC)
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 states 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.
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https://www.salon.com/2019/01/22/judge-blocks-wisconsin-gops-lame-duck-voter-suppression-not-a-close-question/