Lame-duck Bill Signed By Wisconsin Governor Walker Limiting Early Voting Challenged By Citizen Action And Partners In Federal Court

Lame-duck session bill signed into law by Governor Walker limiting early voting is being challenged by Citizen Action of Wisconsin and partners.

By H. Nelson Goodson

Hispanic News Network U.S.A.

December 17, 2018

Milwaukee, WI - On Monday, Citizen Action of Wisconsin (CAW) announced that their organization including partners will file a joint legal challenge in a federal court to prevent the lame-duck session bill limiting early voting signed into law by outgoing Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker (R) from becoming law. According to a press release by CAW it says, as one of the lead plaintiffs in the federal court case that struck down early voting restrictions in Wisconsin, Citizen Action of Wisconsin Education Fund and our partners are filing a motion today with federal district Judge James D. Petersen asking the court to stop enforcement of early voting restrictions signed into law by Governor Walker on Friday. The motion will be filed this afternoon in U.S. District court in the Western District of Wisconsin.

Citizen Action is joined in the lawsuit by One Wisconsin Institute and other individual plaintiffs, including Citizen Action staff member Anita Johnson. The legal action is being supported National Redistricting Foundation, a 501(c)(3) affiliate of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee. The law firm Perkins Coie is representing the plaintiffs in the case.
"In the original case Judge Peterson found that the early voting restrictions imposed by Scott Walker and conservatives in the Legislature constituted deliberate racial discrimination and violated the democratic rights of all Wisconsin voters," said Robert Kraig, Executive Director of Citizen Action of Wisconsin. "It is shocking that without any legal rational, the Legislature and Governor Walker have has decided to ignore the ruling of a federal judge by again seeking to limit early voting. We are optimistic that this latest attempt to disenfranchise Wisconsin voters will blocked in time for the spring 2019 elections."

The lame-duck bill also limits the newly elected Governor Tony Evers (D) from reforming and appointing the director of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) and conducting an audit of its corporate welfare tax incentives to corporations, which it also prohibits Evers from withdrawing Wisconsin from a multistate lawsuit of the Obama Affordable Health Care Act. The bill also limits the authority of newly elected Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul (D) in certain legal representations.