Author Archives: ELECTIONLAWCENTER.COM

Eliminating Wisconsin’s Same Day Registration “Dangerous”?



Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker has Democrats hyperventilating over remarks he made at the Ronald Reagan Library regarding the state’s same-day registration:


 


“It would be much better if registration was done in advance of Election Day. It would be easier for our clerks to handle that.”


 


Although Walker did not directly call for the law to be overturned, Democrats saw his comments as an indication that the governor would push for an eliminating of same-day registration.


 


“Scott Walker rolled out the next phase of his dangerous legislative agenda, advocating the elimination of Wisconsin’s same-day voter registration laws,” said state Democratic Party Chairman Mike Tate…


 


The vast majority of states manage to operate under these “dangerous” conditions, as did Wisconsin until 1975, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures: Only “Eight states plus the District of Columbia presently offer same-day registration (SDR), allowing any qualified resident of the state to go to the polls on election day, register that day, and then vote. Another two states have enacted same-day registration but have not yet implemented it.” 


Another sad day for DOJ lawyer misconduct

Most DOJ lawyers aren’t crooks.  Some are.  (Stay tuned for a big PJ Media story about more lawlessness inside DOJ when it comes to voting issues).  If you had any doubt that some inside DOJ are totally corrupt – and that Office of Professional Responsibility runs interference for them – read this court opinion from this week.

The long opinion relates to DOJ lawyer misconduct in the criminal case against New Orleans police officers arising out of Hurricane Katrina.  The case was brought by the US Attorney in New Orleans and the Civil Rights Division at DOJ. 

At page 33, the court makes clear what he thinks of the DOJ Office of Professional Responsibility’s ability to handle DOJ lawyer misconduct.  The judge shares the opinion I expressed in this piece at PJ Media, “The Justice Department Fix is In,” involving to the OPR on the New Black Panther dismissal. 

Over the last few years, I have met numerous statewide and federal elected officials who fully understand that when they are dealing with the Eric Holder Justice Department, particularly the Civil Rights Division, they are not dealing with honest brokers – and sometimes outright rouges.  It seems members of the federal bench are also starting to get the message.

Of course you can read extensive details about more lawyer misconduct at DOJ, some of it costing millions of dollars in sanctions, in my book Injustice.

Arizona redistricting panel objects to March trial challenging plan

Arizona’s redistricting commission is telling a federal court that it’d be too much of a rush to schedule a late March trial on a lawsuit challenging the state’s new map of legislative districts.

A three-judge panel had said the case should go to trial by late March so it can be resolved in time to avoid disrupting the 2014 elections.

Link

Ohio Supreme Court upholds redistricting plan

The Supreme Court of Ohio has upheld as constitutional the state apportionment board’s 2011 redrawing of legislative districts for the Ohio General Assembly.

In a 4-3 decision authored by Justice Terrence O’Donnell, the court based its ruling on findings that The Ohio Constitution does not mandate political neutrality in the reapportionment of legislative districts, but does require that partisan considerations cannot prevail over the nonpartisan requirements set forth in Article XI.

Link to the story.