Supreme Court’s blockage of WI voter ID law only temporary, election reform expert says

The Wisconsin Reporter ^ | 10-10-14 | Adam Tobias

[afraidfortherepublic]

MADISON, Wis. — The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday may have blocked Wisconsin’s voter identification law, but an election reform expert is calling the decision purely procedural and expects the requirement to be in place at some point in the future.

The high court didn’t give a reason for its decision in a brief order overruling the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, but three of the nine justices who dissented said there is a “colorable basis” for the court’s conclusion due to the proximity of the upcoming general election Nov. 4.

Justices Samuel Alito, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, who all lean conservative, noted it’s particularly troubling that thousands of absentee ballots had been sent out prior to three Seventh Circuit judges allowing the law to be implemented Sept. 12 while the full court considered the case. The federal appeals court declared the law constitutional on Monday.

Hans von Spakovsky, manager of the Heritage Foundation’s Election Law Reform Initiative, told Wisconsin Reporter on Friday the statement by the three justices shows the timing of Wisconsin’s voter ID law is the only real issue.

“It’s one of these situations where changing the rules for the election this close to the election doesn’t make sense, so I don’t think anybody should read anymore into it than that,” von Spakovsky said.

“I think in the long run, Wisconsin’s going to get a positive order from the Supreme Court, because look, the Wisconsin law is so similar to Indiana’s, I don’t see how they could come out any differently,” he added.

The Supreme Court upheld Indiana’s voter ID law in 2008, arguing the safeguards were “unquestionably relevant to the state’s interest in protecting the integrity and reliability of the electoral process.” The Seventh Circuit Court on Sept. 12 concluded Wisconsin’s voter ID law was materially identical to the Indiana law.

Von Spakovsky also pointed to a panel of three federal judges that upheld South Carolina’s voter ID requirement in 2012, but delayed enforcement because the decision was made less than a month before the presidential election.

Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen, however, doesn’t want to wait that long.

The state’s top law enforcement official told Wisconsin Reporter in a statement Friday his office “will be exploring alternatives to address the Court’s concern and have voter ID on election day.”

“I believe the voter ID law is constitutional, and nothing in the Court’s order suggests otherwise,” said Van Hollen, a Republican.

But Rick Esenberg, president and general counsel for the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, isn’t confident the Supreme Court will allow the state to enforce the law by the election.

“They basically have to move for reconsideration and that’s always a difficult thing to do,” Esenberg told Wisconsin Reporter. “Judges kind of have this instinctual reaction against being asked to change their minds. And it’s not wrong that they have that. I mean, their job is to make decisions, and if you’re constantly revisiting your decisions again and again and again, you don’t get any work done.”

Thursday’s order places Wisconsin’s voter ID law on hold until the Supreme Court makes a final ruling on the case or turns down an appeal. If the Supreme Court decides not to take the case, the law becomes enforceable, according to Esenberg.

“It’s more likely than not that we’ll have voter ID,” Esenberg said.

Republican Gov. Scott Walker signed the voter ID requirement into law in 2011, but it was blocked after a series of lawsuits and court cases. The state was still able to impose the law for a low turnout primary election in February 2012 without any major reported incidents.

Opponents of the law say requiring photo identification disenfranchises minorities, the elderly and other voters who cannot afford or easily obtain an ID. Others have also claimed the timing of the Wisconsin’s law would have put additional hardships on government workers and made it more difficult for the state to inform all voters of the changes.

“Thousands of Wisconsin senior citizens and absentee voters will get to vote now,” State Rep. Brett Hulsey, D-Madison, said Friday in a news release. “I applaud the six justices that saw that a grave injustice was about to occur.”

But a study by the Heritage Foundation has found that states with ID laws have experienced a higher voter turnout with minorities. Georgia and Indiana, which implemented voter ID laws in 2008, both recorded a higher turnout for the presidential election than many other states without ID requirements. Those turnout numbers also include minorities.

Others have also been quick to debunk the theory that Wisconsin’s voter ID law would suppress voters because the state was willing to give out identification cards for free.

“I think Wisconsin has done enough, the voter ID law is constitutional and it doesn’t violate the Voting Rights Act,” Esenberg said.

Some opponents argue there is not enough documented voter fraud to justify implementing photo ID laws.

The Supreme Court thinks otherwise.

The high court in 2008 said flagrant examples of voter fraud have been documented throughout the nation’s history by respected historians and journalists. The instances of such fraud “demonstrate that not only is the risk of voter fraud real but that it could affect the outcome of a close election,” according to the Heritage Foundation’s report.

A different study by the Heritage Foundation also has found numerous examples of voter fraud in the country, including several cases in Wisconsin.

[afraidfortherepublic]

Another take on the Supreme Court decision on voter id. Will we get it after all on Nov. 4?

FReep mail me if you want on, or off, this Wisconsin interest ping list.

[Jonty30]

The day after the election is when the Supreme Court will give the go ahead.

[Yosemitest]

"RATs can't win without CHEATING!

DemocRATs are SEALING ELECTIONS BEFORE we vote !

Here's a MUST WATCH VIDEO about STEALING ELECTIONS !
Make sure you tell ALL your acquaintances to watch it, and watch it RIGHT NOW !

HBO Hacking Democracy The Pima County Way, Card Reader and RTA Election. ( 16:30 )
By AUDITAZ Uploaded on Apr 24, 2011

In the RTA election of May 16, 2006 more than 100 optical scanners failed on Election Day at various precincts.

Election day I was out inspecting precincts and once I found that a large number of optical scanners were failing to work at the precincts.
I called Rep. Ted Downing, (Chair of State Party Election Integrity committee) also (at that time) the Chair of our county party "Donna Branch-G".
Both went to the election department to see what the problem was
and that is when they found the Microsoft -Access manual open right next to the central tabulator.

Donna and Ted took pictures of this.
Both were told that they had no oversight rights because
this was a nonpartisan election
thus stopping us from actually finding out
if MS-access was on the system
and if the central tabulator networked to other computers in the office.
By the time we got to check the computer several months later the program was gone.
However, we did find MS-Access on the Maricopa Election Department and that system count 58% of the vote state wide.

The Diebold-GEMS software is built on MS-Access program.
It is illegal by state law to have software that has not been approved and or certified by the SOS office such as MS- Access.
This is because
MS Access easily backdoors the database
and one could change anything they want by passing the GEMS Audit log.

To make it worse
the normal backup which was always done EVERY election night
and/or major event was not until the following Friday at 5:01pm.

Additional Facts:
In the case of the RTA, the election department after processing 13,000 early ballots 6 days out,
went in early the next morning
and did a backup over that database
destroying that file called "early ballots day 1"
and replaced it with a new day 1 backup,
then illegally printed (5 days before the election) 2 election summary reports 10 minutes apart.
These reports by law are not supposed to be printed until one hour after the polls close.
Such a process took many computer moves that could never be a simple "slip of the finger".

Fact: Even though Brian Crane told the Judge Miller
this was a normal practice,
examination of the computer logs showed this had only been done one other time since 2000.
In actuality, Bryan Crane did backups at lunch
and before he went home at night.

AUDIT-AZ
Producer: John R Brakey
Esq: Bill Risner
BBV: Jim March

[M-cubed]

“It’s one of these situations where changing the rules for the election this close to the election doesn’t make sense, so I don’t think anybody should read anymore into it than that,” <<<

Yup..Lets let illegal votes reign till we can get to the bottom of the illegwl vote4rs!

[M-cubed]

Who needs IDs.......lol...Not a soul in the nation that doesn't need one for SOMETHING!

[Catsrus]

Exactly. One must ask why the DEMS fight the voter ID laws with such gusto. It has nothing,of course, to do with disenfranchising anyone - it’s to allow fraud. I just don’t understand how people can’t see through this.

[Jonty30]

The Dems like ID for everything else, except voting.

[rdcbn]

Well, Democrats have managed to stall implementation of this voter ID for two elections

[joshua c]

On the general subject of voter id, has there ever been an article about how it is too difficult to get an id for any other transaction that requires an id?

Even one article? Ever? I have never seen one.

[DoodleDawg]

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday may have blocked Wisconsin’s voter identification law, but an election reform expert is calling the decision purely procedural and expects the requirement to be in place at some point in the future.

Probably November 5th.

[bigtoona]

Question that should be made to anyone against voter ID: are you against it because you think black people are too stupid to obtain an ID?

[OleShep]

I saw your posting name - by afraidfortherepublic -
and wanted to say yes, I sense our Republic is truly gone now. Many freedoms we once had have seeped away. America - AMERICA! - was a great nation! A world leader! A light to the world! A strong nation! Who can say this today?

Like the Church in Ephesus in Revelation 2
You have forsaken the love you had at first.
Consider how far you have fallen!
Repent and do the things you did at first.
If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.
http://biblehub.com/niv/revelation/2.htm

GOD help us all.

[norwaypinesavage]

Blocking voter ID doesn’t have to last long. It just has to last long enough to give Obama one more chance to put more liberal dupes on the Supreme Court. Given the number of idiots that want the GOPe to loose the next election, that’s about 24 days.

[cableguymn]

Only to be struck down slightly less than a year later..

[cableguymn]

So those that won’t vote GOPe are idiots now eh?

Name calling is a sign you have lost you’re argument.

The GOPe did it to themselves when they savagely attacked tea party type candidates to keep their GOPe shills in place.

[Lazamataz]

The GOPe is every bit the enemy of America as are the Democrats.

Moreso, even.

[tomkat]

" They've made their ruling, now let them enforce it"

Wisconsin > Do It Anyway

[tomkat]

loose  lose

You're welcome.

[norwaypinesavage]

"Name calling is a sign you have lost you’re argument."

I believe that you were the one to first use the word 'idiot'.