A federal judge has denied the state’s request for a hold on his decision striking down Wisconsin’s law requiring voters to show photo ID at the polls. Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen had made two different requests to halt the decision during the appeals process. U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman denied the first of those Wednesday, leaving in place the decision that he had made in April to strike down the voter ID law for violating voters’ constitutional rights. The U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals has yet to rule on the other stay request made by Van Hollen, who is seeking to reinstate the law in time for the Nov. 4 election.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court two weeks ago upheld voter ID in two cases, and Van Hollen argued those rulings showed he would prevail in federal court. Adelman on Wednesday rejected that line of thinking.
“In the present case, the evidence showed that virtually no voter-impersonation fraud occurs in Wisconsin and that it is unlikely to become a problem in the foreseeable future,” he wrote in his 19-page decision keeping in place the injunction on the law.
Full Article: Federal judge refuses to put ruling halting voter ID on hold.