Busybody Activist Federal Judge Lets Just Anybody Vote In Wisconsin

 
 Well here's some nice time for your Tuesday: In Wisconsin, Federal District Judge Lynn Adelman struck down the state's dumb voter ID law (voter ID laws are, by definition, dumb), ruling that the state failed to prove that there's any voter fraud that needs to be fixed, and that it also didn't prove that people without ID could get them without difficulty, and, oh, yes, he also found that the law targeted minority voters. Wisconsin Republicans reportedly replied, yeah, and...?

"The evidence at trial established that virtually no voter impersonation occurs in Wisconsin," Adelman wrote. "The defendants could not point to a single instance of known voter impersonation occurring in Wisconsin at any time in the recent past."

Not surprisingly, Governor Scott Walker said, nuh-uh, it is SO Constitutional:

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel  notes that since the law was also found unconstitutional in a state court, the state would have to reverse both the federal and state decisions in order to put the voting restrictions back in place before this fall's election -- even if the Wisconsin Supreme Court finds the law complies with the state constitution, the Walker crowd would also have to win in a federal appellate court.

And could we just have a round of applause for Judge Adelman's clear reasoning in his decision:

There is no way to determine exactly how many people Act 23 will prevent or deter from voting without considering the individual circumstances of each of the 300,000 plus citizens who lack an ID," U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman wrote in his 70-page ruling. "But no matter how imprecise my estimate may be, it is absolutely clear that Act 23 will prevent more legitimate votes from being cast than fraudulent votes ...

Because virtually no voter impersonation occurs in Wisconsin and it is exceedingly unlikely that voter impersonation will become a problem in Wisconsin in the foreseeable future, this particular state interest has very little weight.

The defendants could not point to a single instance of known voter impersonation occurring in Wisconsin at any time in the recent past.

Is it even legal to be that clear in your reasoning for throwing out a terrible discriminatory law? We are skeptical.

Now, let's just go back and listen to George Carlin telling us that even when everyone can vote, we're still screwed...

[ WaPo / Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel ]

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