Wisconsin
Melanie Ramey of the Wisconsin League: “We in Wisconsin can be grateful that the Environmental Protection Agency recently issued national regulations... Congress made a promise to us when it passed the Clean Air Act in 1970 to protect future generations from pollutants like smog, soot, carbon and mercury. Now it is up to all of us to keep that promise.”
“A pair of appeals court rulings this week make clear the state's new voter ID law will remain suspended through the May and June recall elections.”
“... Another obstacle to getting the necessary ID is providing the necessary documentation, usually a birth certificate. Many do not have a copy of their birth certificate and obtaining one can be time consuming, complicated and costly -- especially if the voter was born out of state. To address this problem, the League of Women Voters of Dane County (Wisconsin) helps voters through the process...”
“In Wisconsin, new laws require licensing for anyone who registers someone else to vote, and the rules for licensing vary in the state's 1,800 municipalities. ... “That could mean a volunteer for a voting drive in a school district would have to take a course and get licensed in a dozen different municipalities in that one school district,” said Jeannette Senecal, director of elections for the League of Women Voters.”
Appeals courts sent two lawsuits challenging Wisconsin's blocked new voter ID law directly to the state Supreme Court on Wednesday because of next week’s important elections, including the state's presidential primaries
“Municipal and county clerks say they're ready for Wisconsin's upcoming presidential primary despite uncertainty over whether its on-again, off-again voter photo identification law will be in effect.”
“The state's [WI] top election official said Tuesday he told the state Department of Justice he did not want to immediately appeal two decisions blocking the state's new law requiring photo IDs at the polls because voters should have plenty of advance knowledge of what rules will be in place for the April 3 election. ... Republican Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen did not heed that request and on Thursday appealed both decisions.”
On Monday, a Dane County (WI) judge denied a motion to delay his voter ID ruling that bars enforcement of the state voter ID law.
Gwen Ifill and guests discuss the latest voter ID news from Wisconsin and Texas on this PBS Newshour segment.
“The League of Women Voters, which filed one of four suits challenging the Wisconsin measure, in its own press statement disagreed. ‘Voting is not like cashing a check or getting on an airplane,’ state President Melanie Ramey said in the statement.”