Elections officials across the country are busy preparing for the upcoming November 4 general election. For many, while the days and sometimes nights are busier than normal, it’s relatively business as usual in the ramp up to the 2014 midterm election. However, officials in a handful of states are grappling with recent court rulings or waiting for the proverbial other shoe to drop as they await court rulings. Nowhere does it seem have recent court rulings been more acutely felt than in Wisconsin. Last week the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated the state’s voter photo ID law and now elections officials, state agencies and colleges and universities are scrambling to not only inform voters about the law, but make sure voters have the necessary ID. The state’s Government Accountability Board (GAB) said at a press conference following the ruling that they are taking “extraordinary efforts” to put the ID law into place.
“Implementing the photo voter ID law close to an election will not be easy,” GAB Executive Director Kevin Kennedy said at the press conference. “But the GAB and Wisconsin clerks are up to the challenge.”
Dane County Clerk Scott McDonnell told WKOW-TV’s “Capitol City Sunday that no matter what you think about voter ID that it is a mess implementing the law this late in the game.
McDonell told the talk show that while he was confident elections officials and poll workers would be prepared for November 4th, his greatest concern is for the voters. “But what I’m concerned about are voters who are going to have to scramble to try to figure out a way to have an ID in a short window,” McDonell said. “You have people who are born in other states, other situations and they’re really going to struggle to be able to exercise their right to vote under this current court ruling.”
Full Article: electionlineWeekly.