Lawmakers should work to increase, not limit, opportunity to vote

It is bad enough that legislative leaders in Madison want to take power away from their successors. They have hatched a plan to limit the powers of incoming Governor Tony Evers and Attorney General Josh Kaul even before they take office. But completely shameful is an affront on all citizens of Wisconsin to limit the opportunity to cast a ballot. As part of a package of bills passed yesterday, designed to increase power for republicans, is a provision limiting in-person absentee voting to no more than two weeks before the election. That is clearly an attempt to suppress the vote. They’ve tried this before, but a judge ruled it to be designed simply for partisan gain. This effort to suppress the vote isn’t quite as much of a reach a past efforts. This bill doesn’t say what hours a local clerk’s office can be open for the two weeks prior to an election, and it doesn’t say they can’t be open on Sunday to process ballots as they tried before. They hope this effort passes a judge’s muster. But it is still not right. We should be making the ability to vote as easy as possible for as many people as possible. And in recent years we have seen sharp increases in the number of people voting early. This effort does nothing to improve the lives of those living in Wisconsin, except for those lawmakers willing to do anything to cling to power.