Monday, March 12, 2012

Second State Judge Issues Permanent Injunction Against The Wisconsin Voter ID

Photo: HNG

On March 6, Dane County Judge Flanagan issued a temporary injunction against the Voter ID law, but on Monday, Judge Niess issued a permanent injunction.

By H. Nelson Goodson
March 12, 2012

Madison - On Monday, Dane County Judge Richard Niess became the second state judge to issue an injunction against the Voter ID law, known as Act 23. Judge Niess ruled the Voter ID law created an unconstitutional burden for voters and issued a permanent injunction halting the implementation of the Voter ID law for the upcoming April 3 presidential election.
The lawsuit was filed by the League of Women voters in October 2011 claiming the Wisconsin state constitution only allowed legislators to prevent felons and mentally incompetent people from voting and did not include another category of citizens. The Voter ID illegally created another group to be excluded from voting and Judge Niess agreed.
Last week Tuesday, Dane County Judge David Flanagan issued a temporary injunction preventing implementation of the Voter ID in a lawsuit filed by the Milwaukee Branch of the NAACP and Voces de la Frontera. The plaintiffs claimed that 220,000 low income voting-age citizens would not be able to vote because they were unable to afford to pay between $10 to $40 to get birth certificates as required and needed to apply for a state ID.
J.B. Van Hollen, the Republican State Attorney General has vowed to challenge Judge Flanagan's injunction and will probably also challenge Judge Niess' permanent injunction as well to keep low income voting-age citizens and elderly from voting.
The Republican control legislature passed the Voter ID law in May and Governor Scott Walker (R) signed it into law.
The Republicans are accused by Democrats of trying to keep low-income minorities from voting to set the stage for a Republican presidential candidate to win Wisconsin in an efford to oust President Barack H. Obama (D-IL) from office in 2012.

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