Boom!
A Wisconsin judge Thursday ordered Gov. Scott Walker to call special elections to fill a pair of legislative seats vacated by fellow Republicans, handing a victory to Democrats who have pushed for the elections to be held.
A national Democratic group led by former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder filed the lawsuit on behalf of voters who argued they were disenfranchised by Walker’s decision not to call elections to fill the vacancies that occurred on Dec. 29.
Attorneys for Holder’s groups, the National Redistricting Foundation, argued that Walker has a legal obligation to call special elections as soon as possible. Democrats said the governor is afraid Democrats will win the seats, but Walker contends the lawsuit is a partisan, special interest effort to waste taxpayers’ money and he’s under no legal obligation to hold the elections.
Dane County Circuit Judge Josann Reynolds required Walker to issue the order calling special elections no later than March 29. Her decision was expected to be appealed.
Two voters who live in the affected districts testified they were angry and insulted they didn’t have a lawmaker to contact with their concerns.
“It’s one thing it’s vacant, it’s another thing they’re not going to fill it,” said Jennifer Meyer, who lives in the town of Scott. “We have nobody representing the interests of our district in the state Senate right now and that upsets me.”
The case turned on interpretation of state law about when special elections must be called.
The law states elections must be called if they occur before the second Tuesday in May in an election year. Walker argued that only covers vacancies that happen after Jan. 1 of the same year as the election, and since these happened on Dec. 29, 2017, he’s under no requirement to act. Plaintiffs contend the requirement applies to vacancies at any point prior to the second Tuesday of May in the election year, not just the same year as the election.
Here’s a little more info:
In arguments Thursday, Elisabeth Frost, arguing for the plaintiffs, said that Walker misinterpreted a state statute in a way that would allow him not to promptly call special elections for the vacant seats. The statute's plain language, she said, requires that he call special elections for the seats, and that it's not a discretionary duty.
"It's worth noting that the governor's interpretation doesn't make sense," she said.
She also argued that constituents in the districts are deprived of representation by legislators, and that legislative staff persons who are currently assigned to the offices cannot be adequate substitutes for legislators because they cannot vote on issues or take any other official actions.
Assistant Attorney General Steven Kilpatrick said that even if special elections were held, the newly-elected legislators would never have the opportunity to vote on any legislation because the current session, which ends today, would be over. The seats would also be up for election again in November, Kilpatrick said, and the terms for the seats would end in January.
Kilpatrick also argued that even though constituents in one district don't have a senator and constituents in the other don't have a representative in the Assembly, constituents in both districts are not unrepresented in the Legislature because each also has either a senator or Assembly representative.
It’s now on Walker to do his job and serve the voters. Of course, Walker doesn’t give two shits about them so we’ll see. We have a pretty big Democratic primary of folks wanting to unseat Walker. It remains to be seen who the frontrunner is but I urge you to donate and get involved with their campaigns. Click below.
Tony Evers
Dana Wachs
Kathleen Vinehout
Andy Gronik
Paul Soglin