Andrea Kaminski, executive director of the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin, is unsure how her organization will respond to Gov. Scott Walker’s recent signing of a bill to restrict early voting throughout the state. Walker issued a partial veto that killed a provision that would have barred municipalities from offering more than 45 hours of weekday in-person absentee voting. Nevertheless, the bill as signed still bars municipalities from offering early voting on weekends in the weeks preceding an election and restricts early voting to the hours of 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays. Walker’s veto amounted to a minimal improvement, says Kaminski. “It was a very, very small concession,” she says.
The League of Women Voters is already fighting a court battle over Voter ID; the state Supreme Court heard oral arguments on the case in February and is expected to rule on the matter in the coming months.
Kaminski says the group, which promotes voter education and greater access to the polls, is consulting with Madison attorney Lester Pines on whether to pursue a separate lawsuit on the recent legislation.
“We’re not sure whether this might be some kind of supplemental complaint to an existing lawsuit or whether we’ll start all over again,” she says. “Lester is talking to other folks, we’re in touch with other groups. We don’t want to go to court until we’re pretty sure we’ve got a strong case.”
Full Article: League of Women Voters ponders lawsuit over early voting restrictions : Ct.