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As I See It

Court fight over voting rights to be lengthy, expensive

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Here we go again. A court fight is about to get underway over restrictions Wisconsin lawmakers have put on our right to vote. The lame duck legislature, in a series of bills designed to keep the republican’s hold on power, passed legislation restricting early voting opportunities to just two weeks before the election. In the last election, some counties, including Milwaukee and Dane provided six weeks of early voting. Governor Walker says it is important that there be consistency among Wisconsin counties when it comes to voting. But that ignores the fact that local county clerks remain free to set their own early voting hours, up to the maximum of two weeks. Some counties will provide less than two weeks of early voting. So much for consistency. This effort comes just two years after a judge ruled a similar effort to put restrictions on voting was declared unconstitutional. The same judge in that case will hear this case. We don’t know what the outcome will be, but we know it will be expensive to taxpayers, This will be a drawn out legal fight,and its likely the only winners will be the lawyers. No matter the ruling, the losing side is likely to appeal, further drawing out the costly legal fight. More than a half million people in Wisconsin voted in-person absentee, a growing trend. We should be making it easier for people to exercise their right to cast a ballot, not harder. These restrictions should be thrown out, and local clerks should be free to set their own rules in an effort to best serve their voters.

Scott Robert Shaw serves as WIZM Program Director and News Director, and delivers the morning news on WKTY, Z-93 and 95.7 The Rock. Scott has been at Mid-West Family La Crosse since 1989, and authors Wisconsin's only daily radio editorial, "As I See It" heard on WIZM each weekday morning and afternoon.

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1 Comment

1 Comment

  1. Rick

    December 19, 2018 at 6:45 am

    This should be set by the state, not individual clerks. Why should one area of the state get 6 weeks to vote while a different area gets 2 weeks? And do you really need 6 weeks to find a couple of hours at most to vote? If you can’t get out you can vote absentee still. Let’s see 10 days (2 weeks) times 8 hours (low estimate) is 80 hours of early voting. On election day you have 13 hours making 93 hours of voting opportunities.

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