7th Circuit blocks judge who would have allowed voting without ID in Wisconsin
A federal appeals court has blocked a federal judge’s injunction that would allow people in Wisconsin without identification to vote by signing an affidavit.
The Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday stayed the injunction by U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman of Milwaukee pending an appeal in the case, report the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Politico and the New York Times.
The appeals court said (PDF) it had concluded in a prior opinion that people who couldn’t obtain a photo ID without reasonable effort were entitled to an accommodation to allow them to vote. On remand, the appeals court said, the district judge failed to try to identify those voters and instead allowed any voter to use the affidavit to vote, even if they had not tried to secure an ID.
The Journal Sentinel notes that a different judge has struck down parts of the Wisconsin voter ID law, “complicating the effects of Wednesday’s ruling.” The decision by U.S. District Judge James Peterson eased the voter ID restrictions, but his decision didn’t apply to as many people as Adelman’s ruling, the newspaper reports.
“Voters should keep following the news,” the Journal Sentinel advises. “The rules could change again between now and the Nov. 8 presidential election.”
Taking a national look at litigation over voting restrictions, University of California at Irvine law professor Richard Hasen says federal appeals courts found voting restrictions in North Carolina and Texas were discriminatory, though North Carolina plans to appeal.
“Things are very much in flux,” Hasen writes at the Washington Post, “and the possibility of disenfranchisement through confusion or reversals of recent gains remains.”
The 7th Circuit case is Frank v. Walker.
