Supreme Court: On Again, Off Again Voter ID Law Is Off Again
WISCONSINREPORT.COM (10/09/2014) [ELECTIONS] The on again, off again, Wisconsin Voter Photo I.D. Law is off again. The United States Supreme Court essentially said today, there isn’t enough time for the State and the voters to fully comply with the law before the November General Election.
The U.S Supreme Court, by a vote of 6 to 3, today has blocked Wisconsin from enforcing what some consider an extremely strict voter identification law for this year’s November election. In doing so, the justices granted an emergency appeal by civil rights lawyers who argued it was too soon to put the rule into effect.
Even though the law was passed by a Republican controlled legislature in 2011 at the insistence of a new Republican Governor, Scott Walker, the rule has been held up in the courts, with decisions that were first, off, then on, then off again. The appeals process led up to a Federal Appeals Court ruling that recently put the rule in effect with days left before the election, November 4th.
Those opposed to the law asked the U.S. Supreme Court to block the Wisconsin Voter Identification Law for now, saying, allowing the requirement to continue this close to the election can only bring about chaos at the polls. The challengers suggested, whatever the legality, keeping the law in place is likely to make it difficult for the election to run smoothly.
Challengers and the Supreme Court were especially concerned that the law requirement that absentee voters must submit the new identification. However, forms were already sent out without that requirement, because the law was in limbo during the time frame of the absentee (or voting early) ballots’ distribution.
State officials had said they would not count ballots returned without copies of valid ID, which created concern over what might happen to the absentee ballots that were returned before the law was reinstated by a lower court action recently.
The U.S. Supreme Court action today stops Wisconsin from enforcing the law this year and prevents speculation over votes not counting in the upcoming election, which is about 25 days away at this writing.
The U.S. Supreme Court decision today also is expected to give the State of Wisconsin, local election officials, and affected voters time to put everything into place for the next election, but, not this one.
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