Yowsa!
Sorry to use "breaking", but this is big. My apologies, as well, for publishing more than 1 diary today. The other one was about the last ditch efforts of Republicans to ram through the rest of their radical agenda.
A Wisconsin court has issued an injunction preventing Wisconsins new Voter ID Law from being implemented in the April elections.
This is particularly important since our April elections are for all of our local offices plus the Presidential primary and has a high voter turnout.
Circuit Judge David Flanagan said the Milwaukee Branch of the NAACP and Voces de la Frontera had demonstrated that their lawsuit against Gov. Scott Walker and the state Government Accountability Board would probably succeed on its merits and had demonstrated the likelihood of irreparable harm if the photo ID law is allowed to stand.
Flanagan granted a temporary injunction (read the injunction here) ordering Walker and the GAB to "cease immediately any effort to enforce or implement the photo identification requirements" of the law, pending a trial on a permanent injunction scheduled before him on April 16.
Yes, it's only a temporary injunction, but it's a big win. The GOP has been crowing about the lack of problems (in their eyes only) with the recent local elections, but turnout was incredibly low in those local primaries.
Dems are quick to respond to the good news:
Democrats applauded Flanagan's decision.
"Today's action that halts the implementation of flawed legislation that makes it harder for students, seniors and minorities to exercise their right to vote is a victory for all Wisconsinites," said Mike Tate, chairman of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin. "Wisconsin law should focus on increasing voter participation, not diminishing it."
And the judge "gets it":
Flanagan cited testimony by UW-Madison professor Ken Mayer, who found that as of 2002 there were 221,975 constitutionally qualified voters who do not have a driver's license or a photo identification card. Eligible voters without a license may apply for a voter identification card from the state Department of Transportation, but the assertion that there is no direct fee for that, Flanagan wrote, "is at best a somewhat incomplete picture."
Of 40 affidavits submitted to the court about the process of getting an ID card, 19 said they paid between $14 and $39.50 to obtain a certified birth certificate from Wisconsin and elsewhere.
"This is a real cost that is imposed upon constitutionally eligible voters and was found to be an improper burden by the Missouri Supreme Court," Flanagan wrote, citing that state's case concerning a photo identification law.
Our local RW leaning rag, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, however, is
quick to point out in the second paragraph of their lengthy article, that Judge Flanagan signed the Walker recall petition.
A Dane County judge has granted a temporary injunction against Wisconsin's new voter identification law, which he called "the single most restrictive voter eligibility law" in the country.
Circuit Judge David Flanagan - who signed a petition for the recall of Gov. Scott Walker --- made his ruling Tuesday, meaning the voter ID requirement would not apply for the April 3 presidential primary and local general election.
A spokesman for Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen said the state would likely appeal.
Of course they will.
Here's the link to the pdf filefor the injunction itself.
Enjoy a brief moment of Scottenfreuden.