{"id":5446,"date":"2023-09-07T05:05:17","date_gmt":"2023-09-07T05:05:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/?p=5446"},"modified":"2023-09-07T05:06:07","modified_gmt":"2023-09-07T05:06:07","slug":"court-rules-wisconsin-elections-commission-illegally-used-voter-registration-form","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/?p=5446","title":{"rendered":"Court Rules Wisconsin Elections Commission Illegally Used Voter Registration Form"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post originally appeared at https:\/\/wisconsindailystar.com\/news\/court-rules-wisconsin-elections-commission-illegally-used-voter-registration-form\/mkittle\/2023\/09\/07\/<\/a><\/p>\n

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The Wisconsin Elections Commission has lost a lawsuit challenging its use of an unlawful voter registration form, the latest legal problem for a controversial state elections regulator with a history of bending the law.<\/p>\n

The lawsuit, filed by the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL) on behalf of Wisconsin taxpayer and voter Richard Braun, challenged the use of the National Mail Voter Registration Form<\/a> in Wisconsin.<\/p>\n

Issued by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, the form is accepted in most states. But Judge Michael P. Maxwell agreed with WILL that the elections commission never lawfully adopted the form\u2019s use in the Badger State and it failed to meet statutory requirements.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is unfortunate that time and time again Wisconsinites have to go to court to force state agencies to follow the law,\u201d said Lucas Vebber, deputy counsel for the Milwaukee-based conservative law firm. \u201cToday\u2019s win is a tremendous victory for Wisconsinites, and sends yet another strong message to bureaucrats who disregard the rule of law.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a July 2022 letter, WILL advised the Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC) that the national form \u2014 in many ways \u2014violated state law. Attorneys asked when and how the form was approved for use in the state.<\/p>\n

WEC, according to court documents, was unable to produce any records showing the form was approved.<\/p>\n

\u201cWEC\u2019s inability to provide such basic information was highly unusual, given that the Election Manual which WEC publishes and provides to all municipal clerks states\u2014as a fact\u2014that the Form had been approved for voter registration in Wisconsin,\u201d the law firm stated in a press release.<\/p>\n

In September 2022, WILL filed a lawsuit, alleging the elections commission violated its statutory duty to ensure that elections in Wisconsin were administered in a lawful manner by allowing the use of the form \u2014 despite its many inconsistencies with state law.<\/p>\n

A year later, Maxwell has ruled that the use of the national form to register voters in Wisconsin is illegal. The judge enjoined WEC from issuing any guidance that states the form is approved for use unless it is legally adopted. He ordered the commission to withdraw any existing guidance which purports to allow use of the form, and to notify all municipal clerks that it may not be used going forward.<\/p>\n

WEC unsuccessfully argued that Braun lacked standing to bring the lawsuit. And the agency insists the national form complies with Wisconsin election laws and that WEC has not engaged in any rule-making regarding the form or guidance offered.<\/p>\n

Left-leaning activist group vote.org,<\/a> an opponent of voter integrity laws, in a brief filed with the court made similar arguments, that the national form is lawful under Wisconsin election law and that its use doesn\u2019t require rule-making.<\/p>\n

WEC claimed, without evidence, that the national form was approved by a prior election agency \u201cat some point in the past,\u201d the ruling states<\/a>. That agency? The old Government Accountability Board, the corrupt state elections\/campaign finance regulator disbanded by the state Legislature after leading an unconstitutional \u201cJohn Doe\u201d investigation into Wisconsin conservatives, many allied with then-Republican Governor Scott Walker. That investigation included pre-dawn, armed raids of homes, illegal gag orders, and politically driven bureaucrats and prosecutors targeting the left\u2019s political enemies.<\/p>\n

The GAB was led by Kevin Kennedy until he resigned on the verge of being fired.<\/p>\n

\u201cWEC attempts feebly to rely upon the affidavit of Mr. Kevin Kennedy, the election agency administrator for the prior two state elections agencies, but Mr. Kennedy as the former chief administrator of elections in this state for nearly thirty-three years can not provide any credible evidence as to where, when, or how the National Form was approved,\u201d the judge wrote.<\/p>\n

\u201cWEC was empowered by the State Legislature to administer Wisconsin\u2019s election laws and then directed WEC to exercise that power by prescribing the voter registration forms which are accepted for use in this State,\u201d the ruling states. \u201cWEC has failed in this most basic duty by allowing the National Form to be used in Wisconsin where WEC has never actually proscribed its use.\u201d<\/p>\n

The controversial agency has a troubled history of failing to follow law \u2014 election or otherwise \u2014 and a growing record of losing such court cases.<\/p>\n

In July 2022, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that the wide-spread use of absentee drop boxes in the contentious 2020 election was illegal under state law. The court also found the election commission\u2019s guidance encouraging their use was unlawful.<\/p>\n

WILL filed that lawsuit.<\/a><\/p>\n

Also in 2022, WEC was forced to remove its guidance allowing local election clerks to \u201ccure\u201d ballots, or correct or write in missing information on absentee ballot return envelopes. Without the \u201ccured\u201d information, the ballots could be rejected. But the practice, amid myriad irregularities and election integrity questions in the 2020 presidential election, created fair voting concerns.<\/p>\n

A Waukesha judge ruled that the 2016 guidance violated state law.<\/p>\n

As WILL notes, Wisconsinites may easily register to vote using the Wisconsin-specific form, which was adopted by WEC legally and is available online and through municipal clerks. That form, which is in wide use, is not impacted by the court\u2019s decision in any way.<\/p>\n

\u2013 \u2013 \u2013<\/p>\n

M.D. Kittle is the National Political Editor for The Star News Network.
\n<\/strong><\/em>Photo \u201cVoter Canvassing\u201d by\u00a0SEIU<\/a>\u00a0CC-NC-2.0<\/em><\/p>\n

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The post Court Rules Wisconsin Elections Commission Illegally Used Voter Registration Form<\/a> appeared first on The Wisconsin Daily Star<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This post originally appeared at https:\/\/wisconsindailystar.com\/news\/court-rules-wisconsin-elections-commission-illegally-used-voter-registration-form\/mkittle\/2023\/09\/07\/ The Wisconsin Elections Commission has lost a lawsuit challenging…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":77,"featured_media":3495,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5446","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wi-daily-star"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5446","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/77"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5446"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5446\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5447,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5446\/revisions\/5447"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}