Wisconsin Republicans are spending their last days in office attacking voting rights. It’s an entirely political scheme, admittedly so. If they want a shot at regaining lost turf next election cycle, their reasoning goes, they’ve got to start suppressing even more Democratic voters right away.
The legislature sent two bills to outgoing Republican Gov. Scott Walker in early December. One slashes early voting from a potential six weeks to a maximum of two weeks; alters the identification petition process; and creates new identification requirements. The other targeted Democratic Gov.-elect Tony Evers, aiming to strip him of powers even before he assumed office, à la the North Carolina GOP.
Problem is, the Republicans’ vote-suppressing legislation resembles a 2014 law that was already found to be unconstitutional and a violation of the Voting Rights Act by a federal district court. Now voting rights proponents, led by former Attorney General Eric Holder, are asking the court to enforce its earlier decision against new Republicans up to the same dirty tricks.