Wisconsin’s laundry list of voter suppression laws challenged in court

http://americablog.com/2015/06/wisconsin-laundry-list-voter-suppression-laws-challenged-court.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Americablog+%28AMERICAblog+News+%29&utm_content=FeedBurner

A group of voting rights advocates, along with Hillary Clinton’s general counsel, Marc Elias, have filed a lawsuit against the state of Wisconsin, claiming that the state’s recently-passed electoral reforms are blatantly racist. While Hillary Clinton’s campaign is not officially behind the lawsuit, they said in a statement that they “are aware of it and strongly support its goal of ensuring the right to vote is not unduly burdened.”

Last month, Elias filed a similar lawsuit in Ohio, challenging similar voting restrictions on identical grounds.

Following Scott Walker’s election in 2010, Wisconsin Republicans enacted what amounted to an entire voter suppression platform. The state has passed practically every 21st Century voting restriction we thought Republicans were capable of and then some:

Photo ID requirement for voting

Reducing early voting from 30 days to 12, while eliminating it entirely on evenings and weekends

Require proof of residence when registering to vote

Eliminated the certification of statewide voter registrars, meaning that anyone who registers others to vote can only do so in the county in which they’re certified

Increased the residency requirement for voting from 10 days to 28 (excepting presidential elections)

Require that citizens who move within the state less than four weeks prior to an election vote in their old locality

Eliminated faxing and emailing of absentee ballots to anyone other than military or overseas voters

Prohibited municipal clerks from returning absentee ballots to citizens to fix mistakes on their forms

Required an area for poll monitors be set up between three and eight feet from the table where voters sign in

Eliminated straight-ticket voting for all but military or overseas voters, increasing wait times at polling locations

Made it harder to use a student ID as proof of residence when registering to vote