League of Women Voters sues state over photo ID law

[midnight]

Source: Journal Sentinal



Madison - The League of Women Voters of Wisconsin sued the state Thursday in an attempt to block a new requirement that voters show photo identification at the polls.

The suit argues the state constitution allows the Legislature to exclude felons and the incompetent from voting, but cannot restrict others from voting. The new photo ID law creates a new class of people who cannot vote - those without ID - and thus violates the state constitution, the suit argues.

The case will be heard by Dane County Circuit Judge Richard Niess.

Republicans who control state government approved the photo ID requirement in May, after trying to do so for more than a decade. It is scheduled to take effect in February.

Republicans argue the measure would discourage voter fraud and give the public more faith in elections. Democrats counter that there are no cases of voter impersonation and that the law will make it harder for minorities and the elderly to vote.

The suit was brought by the league and its president, Melanie Ramey, against Gov. Scott Walker and the Government Accountability Board, which is responsible for running state elections.

Spokesmen for the governor and the accountability board had no immediate comment.

The league announced in August it would sue over the photo ID law, and has spent the weeks since then raising money for it. The suit seeks to a declaration that the photo ID law violates the state constitution, as well as legal costs.

The lawsuit comes just as groups prepare to launch petition drives to recall Walker and senators from both parties. A wave of recall elections hit the state earlier this year because of the Republican governor's legislation to greatly limit collective bargaining for public workers.

The suit will determine whether the photo ID requirement is in place for any recall elections, as well as the fall 2012 presidential election.


Read more: http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/league-of-women-voters-sues-state-over-photo-id-law-132253703.html

---

Judge Richard Niess was appointed by Democrat Gov. Doyle in 2004.


A judge upheld Wisconsin’s constitutional ban on gay marriage Friday, rejecting a challenge that claimed the 2006 referendum was improperly put to voters.

Dane County Circuit Judge Richard Niess dismissed a lawsuit brought by a University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh political science instructor claiming the referendum wrongly put two issues to voters at the same time.

The referendum asked voters whether to rewrite the constitution to define marriage as between one man and one woman and outlaw the state from granting a similar legal status to unmarried individuals. Nearly 60 percent of voters approved.

"Today’s ruling defeats a legal challenge that was aimed at undermining the will of Wisconsin voters," said Atty. Gen. J.B. Van Hollen, a Republican whose office defended the amendment.http://www.edgeboston.com/index.php?ch=news&sc=&sc3=&id=75243


So who knows how this will go....

[Scuba]

1. More balls than Holder. n/t

[loyalsister]

10. There is no basis to challenge federal law

Someone has to actually be able to prove that there has been an instance of disenfranchisement for it to be challenged federally.
Election regulations are left to states under the principle of local regulation being necessary to properly accommodate specific population dynamics.

[Tippy]

2. K&R....

[powerboy]

3. How do you send Money

Does anyone have a link

[surrealAmerican]

6. You could try the League of Women Voters web site:

it's www.lwv.org


Welcome to DU.

[secondwind]

4. They should fight back in FL as well. Instead, they threw their hands up and stopped

registering voters... because of that dumbass law in FL that requires you to hand in registration forms no less than 48 hours after they are signed.... another way to make it harder for folks to register!!!!

[happyslug]

5. The actual State of Virginia Constitutional clause

ARTICLE II
Franchise and Officers
Section 1. Qualifications of voters.

In elections by the people, the qualifications of voters shall be as follows: Each voter shall be a citizen of the United States, shall be eighteen years of age, shall fulfill the residence requirements set forth in this section, and shall be registered to vote pursuant to this article. No person who has been convicted of a felony shall be qualified to vote unless his civil rights have been restored by the Governor or other appropriate authority. As prescribed by law, no person adjudicated to be mentally incompetent shall be qualified to vote until his competency has been reestablished.

The residence requirements shall be that each voter shall be a resident of the Commonwealth and of the precinct where he votes. Residence, for all purposes of qualification to vote, requires both domicile and a place of abode. The General Assembly may provide for persons who are employed overseas, and their spouses and dependents residing with them, and who are qualified to vote except for relinquishing their place of abode in the Commonwealth while overseas, to vote in the Commonwealth subject to conditions and time limits defined by law. The General Assembly may provide for persons who are qualified to vote except for having moved their residence from one precinct to another within the Commonwealth to continue to vote in a former precinct subject to conditions and time limits defined by law. The General Assembly may also provide, in elections for President and Vice-President of the United States, alternatives to registration for new residents of the Commonwealth.

Any person who will be qualified with respect to age to vote at the next general election shall be permitted to register in advance and also to vote in any intervening primary or special election.

http://legis.state.va.us/laws/search/constitution.htm

[No Elephants]

7. The homeless are disenfranchised?

[happyslug]

12. On its face, yes, but seems the Attorney General and Courts of Virginia has ruled otherwise

The Attorney General of Virginia issued an official opinion that being homeless does NOT exclude you from Voting under this provision of the Virginian Constitution:

The Entire Opinion of the Virginian Attorney General is here:
http://www.oag.state.va.us/Opinions%20and%20Legal%20Res...

The Key findings in that opinion are as follows:

Conclusion

Accordingly, it is my opinion that homeless residents of the Commonwealth may register to vote in a locality of the Commonwealth, so long as they have an intention to remain in that locality for an unlimited period of time.

Here is a PDF version of the Virginia Supreme Court Decision the Attorney General Based his decision on:
http://www.courts.state.va.us/opinions/opnscvwp/1960214.pdf

Now in Sachs v. Horan, 252 Va. 247, the Virginia Supreme Court told a voter that if a voters moved out of a County (County A) into another county (County B), the voter loses his right to vote in County A even if the Voter maintains the registration of his vehicle in County A, owns a house in County A(Through rented to another), and intends to moved back to County A whenever he can. The Attorney General took note and based his opinion on one paragraph in that Virginia Supreme Court opinion known as Sachs v. Horan, 252 Va. 247 which goes as follows:

"Residence, for all purposes of qualification to vote, requires both domicile and place of abode." Va. Const. art. II, § 1. To establish domicile, a person must live in a particular locality with the intention to remain there for an unlimited time. State-Planters Bank & Trust Co. v. Commonwealth, 174 Va. 289, 295, 6 S.E.2d 629, 631 (1940). A place of abode is the physical place where a person dwells. See Black's Law Dictionary (6th ed. 1990).

In simple terms one can be a resident and have a place of abode even if that place of adobe means sleeping on the streets, thus the homeless can vote in Virginia provided they meet these two MINIMAL requirements.

[happyslug]

11. Wrong place

No Text (N/T)

[No Elephants]

8. Good for the League of Women Voters!

[caraher]

9. Good luck!

I hope they fare better than the league did here in Indiana. Despite the fact that the Secretary of State could not name even one instance of voter fraud that the ID law would have caught, the courts upheld the legal disfranchisement of many Indiana voters.

[999998th word]

13. League of Women Voters I hope this works, but....

This is ALEC bought and paid for piece of shit bill is the WORST fucking thing those scumbags ever did. Too much contaminated money is behind this.

This threatens our WHOLE country. Over 30 states are trying to ram crap like this down our collective throats.