Posted on 01/17/2012 10:33:38 AM PST by afraidfortherepublic
Madison - A Democratic group suing election officials over new election maps asked a federal court Monday to sanction the state for not telling it about inaccuracies with the maps.
Once a decade, states must draw new boundaries for legislative and congressional districts to account for population changes recorded by the U.S. Census. Republicans who control Wisconsin's government were able to draw those lines last year to favor themselves.
Even before the GOP maps were revealed, a group of Democratic citizens sued over them, arguing they violate the U.S. Constitution and federal Voting Rights Act.
On Monday, the group said in a court filing it wants a three-judge panel to hold an immediate hearing and assess fees against the state because officials had not told it the maps included flawed data even though they have known it since at least November.
In its own filing, the state on Monday asked for a court order preventing it from having to produce documents about the errors, saying that doing so would be unduly burdensome and expensive and that the errors are irrelevant to the case.
In a memo Friday, officials with the Government Accountability Board said they could not strictly follow the new maps that are written into state law because of the errors. The errors mean that some voters do not actually reside in the districts lawmakers intended them to be in, according to the memo from the elections agency.
(Excerpt) Read more at jsonline.com ...
Wisconsin Redistricting Lawsuit Ping
If you want on, or off, this Wisconsin interest ping list, just say the word via FReep Mail and it shall be done.
If these alleged errors are corrected, does it figure to have any practical effect on the outcomes in any congressional or state legislative districts? Seems as if they are quibbling over very small differences.
Is there any racial issue beneath the surface in this suit? (Asking that because the plaintiffs are invoking the federal Voting Rights Act).
Please see my post # 3.
Count me in, B.
Walker on Rush today: beginning hour two.
I think you’ll have tons of teed off voters, if the errors are not corrected. We already have enough of those.
They come into what they think is their polling place and pitch a fit when they are not on the list. You look up their address and tell them that they have to re-register. If they did not bring their credentials, they really get furious. They can still vote provisionally, but they have to show up to City Hall within 24 hours to offer their proper ID.
Racial issue? Probably not. The real issue is political. There are “safe” Dem districts (created by the past administration). The lines have probably been drawn to make Republican districts safer and maybe to dilute the concentration of Dems. I don’t know that for sure, but that is what they always do.
I missed it (Rush) but I’ve read the transcript and it sounds like it was good.
So are you saying that you are supporting the (Dem) plaintiffs in this suit?
No. I’m just saying that I know how voters react when their name is missing from the polls. Even if they haven’t voted in the last 4 years, they expect everything to remain the same. There were earlier stories last week that said that some of the voters have been placed in districts in AFRICA, fgs. The people drawing the maps (union folks all) have done a lousy job. But, I’m confident that they will mostly get it right before the next election.
I had a couple who were kicking and screaming at me in 2009 because their names were not on the rolls. To top that, their drivers’ licenses were in their car, but they refused to go out to bring them in so that they could re-register. Finally, my chief election supervisor agreed to vouch for them so they woudn’t have to provide their DL numbers. Suddenly my chief election supervisor remembered that their neighborhood had been moved to a different polling place in 2001. Their neighborhood had been moved for EIGHT years. Naturally, the county clerk had dropped them off the polls and they were in the wrong polling place all along.
Do you think they apologized for causing all the fuss? Of course not.
No, I don't think so.
This is the Democrat establishment in Wisconsin still teed off at being tossed out in 2010 by the voters.
First they fled, then they stormed, then they recalled, now they're suing.
-PJ
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