Another RW voting barrier removed
It came as a shock when our RW Wisconsin State Supreme Kangaroo Court decided a few months ago that no one can help a disabled voter with their ballot or its’ submission via mail or election clerk. In a Wisconsin where voting was always very easy, Republicans have seen to it that voting has gotten harder, more frustrating and troublesome in the past 10 plus years. This is their latest way to ensure that “certain groups” of voters (pssst: Democrats) can’t access the ballot.
2 years of chemo left me mobility challenged and reliant on absentee ballots. I can’t, however, walk the block it takes to put it in the mailbox (technically, I can walk the block, but don’t have the stamina to walk back home even with my rollator) and have relied on either my housekeeper or sister to ferry it on to the first stage of its’ travels to the local election clerk.
Nope, said the State Supreme Kangaroo Court. I’d have to take it there myself and put it in the mailbox with my own hands. How about quadriplegics and others with profound disabilities??? They’ll have to do it themselves, too, or, just not be able to vote.
Today, I am happy to say that a Federal Judge has restored some sanity on this issue that should NEVER have even been an issue.
U.S. District Judge James Peterson said the federal Voting Rights Act allows disabled voters to have friends or family return their ballots despite a recent state Supreme Court decision that barred such practices.
“Voters shouldn’t have to choose between exercising their federal rights and complying with state law,” Peterson wrote in his ruling in a lawsuit against the Wisconsin Elections Commission brought by four Wisconsin voters who are each unable to move their arms or legs or have severely limited mobility
"But that is the position that plaintiffs find themselves in, and that is in part because defendants have refused to provide needed clarification. If defendants cannot or will not give plaintiffs assurances that their right to vote will be protected, this court must do so."
Older voters, once reliably Republican, were once a highly valued voting group for them. However, since the GOP has decided to go after Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid (for which most of that budget is spent on nursing home care), older voters might be experiencing a change of heart and/or voting preference.
So, older voters have just got to go — or, like other minority groups that the GOP is relentlessly suppressing — have had barriers erected to prevent them from being able to vote. They’re already experts at stopping state funding of “some” areas of the state where hours-long lines are routine on election day to prevent Democrats poor people from voting. That’s no longer enough to save Republican asses statewide so additional “measures” were taken by the GOP.
In Wisconsin that has already meant “valid ID” to vote which was enacted in 2011 and created a barrier for college students (college ID isn’t “valid”, but concealed carry permits are), poor people, and non-drivers. They’re hard to get if you don’t drive (and the DMVs where state IDs are issued have limited weekday hours and aren’t on bus routes (they’re meant for DRIVERS). Yes, there is a provision for getting a renewable Voter ID “free”, but the “free” part necessitates saying the exact right words so the ID seeker isn’t charged and, even if spoken, the ID seeker is often charged anyway. Can we say “Poll Tax”?
And that means going after absentee ballots, too. Can’t have old folks and the disabled voting absentee at home with no lines or show me your papers laws. So, they used their RW majority State Supreme Kangaroo Court to do their dirty work for them. I expect they’ll appeal this federal decision until it gets to their RW majority US Supreme Kangaroo Court, but until then, we can vote. We MUST vote.
We already have only half the eligible people voting, but it’s still too many Democrats for the Republicans to win it all. We need a national Right to Vote Law so our rights don’t slide down the toilet further than they already have. Voting needs to be easy to encourage as many people as possible to touch our democracy in the only way we can — at the ballot box.
