The liberal action group One Wisconsin Now filed a motion Monday afternoon to challenge Gov. Scott Walker’s signature on a bill that limits early voting.
The group is getting assistance from The National Redistricting Foundation, a political action group led by former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder in the action.
One Wisconsin Institute is going back to court seeking enforcement of a 2016 federal ruling that struck down limits on voting rights. Analiese Eicher, the institute’s program director said they’re confident the same judge from 2016, Judge James Peterson, will uphold the law after it was ruled unconstitutional.
Under the law signed by Walker, local governments could decide when to hold early voting, but only up to two weeks prior to an election.
The measure would impact several large counties where previously voters could head to polls 47 days prior to an election. Republican’s argue it makes the system more universal for each municipality to offer the same number of days to vote ahead of time.
“What really is not fair to say is that everyone regardless of where you are has to be the exact same because what’s uniformed in one city is not uninformed in another,” said Eicher.
The limits are a little different than the ones struck down by Judge Peterson two years ago. Another provision includes re-imposing an expiration date requirement on university IDs. The law signed by Walker would require those ID’s to be updated every two years to use when voting.
The litigation comes after Republican’s lost in all constitutional officer races. It’s the first time in years all positions will soon be held by Democrats.
WKOW reached out to Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald and the governor’s office for a comment and have yet to hear back.
During Walkers bill signing on Friday, he voiced support for the bill.
“I like early voting,” he said. “I just like it to be fair.”
Gov.-elect Evers also hinted lawsuits could be on the horizon ever since the lame-duck session began two weeks ago. He responded to Walker’s support for the bills as a move to create petty, political fights.
“This will no doubt be his legacy,” said Evers.
For more go to WKOW: https://wkow.com/news/top-stories/2018/12/17/one-wisconsin-now-to-file-lawsuit-challenging-early-voting-law/