Finding that Republican lawmakers had discriminated against minorities, a federal judge Friday struck down parts of Wisconsin’s voter ID law, limits on early voting and prohibitions on allowing people to vote early at multiple sites. With the presidential election less than four months away, GOP Attorney General Brad Schimel said he plans to appeal the sweeping decision by U.S. District Court Judge James Peterson. Peterson also turned back other election laws Republicans have put in place in recent years. “The Wisconsin experience demonstrates that a preoccupation with mostly phantom election fraud leads to real incidents of disenfranchisement, which undermine rather than enhance confidence in elections, particularly in minority communities,” U.S. District Judge James Peterson wrote. “To put it bluntly, Wisconsin’s strict version of voter ID law is a cure worse than the disease.”
The ruling came the same day a federal appeals court struck down numerous voting laws in North Carolina and a week after a different appeals court ruled a photo ID law in Texas violates voters’ rights. Last week, a federal judge in Milwaukee determined voters in November could cast ballots without showing ID if they submitted statements at polling places saying they could not easily get a state-issued ID card.
Friday’s 119-page decision in Madison is broader than the Milwaukee ruling and resets the rules for voting less than four months before the presidential election.
Full Article: Judge strikes down Wisconsin voter ID, early voting laws.