From the Article:
As a legal battle over witness addresses on absentee ballots heads towards the Wisconsin Supreme Court, Republican lawmakers say they’re hoping to settle the debate over the definition of “address” before the court does.
A bill authored by Wisconsin Reps. Donna Rozar, R-Marshfield; Scott Krug, R-Nekoosa; and Sen. Cory Tomczyk, R-Mosinee, would specify that a witness’s address must contain the person’s name, house number, street name, municipality, state and ZIP code.
It would also bar clerks from filling in missing address information regardless if they can identify where that person lives. If a clerk — or anyone other than the voter — corrects the address, they could face fines of up to $500 and up to 30 days in jail, under the legislation.
Current law states that a witness must print their name and address on the absentee ballot envelope, known as a witness certificate, but doesn’t spell out what constitutes an address.
Krug said the bill is a response to lawsuits on absentee witness signatures working their way through state courts. The most recent ruling came from Dane County Circuit Court Judge Ryan Nilsestuen, who ordered the Wisconsin Elections Commission to tell local clerks that absentee ballots with witness addresses missing things like a ZIP code or municipality must be counted and that clerks can correct them if they can confirm where a witness lives.
“This is where the definitions and guidance and ideas should come from, is the Legislature passing them and the governor signing them into law, so the courts don’t have to guess,” Krug said.
The Dane County lawsuit was filed by the League of Women Voters and youth organizing group Rise, Inc. They argued state law is vague on what witness address information needs to be included on ballots and clerks around Wisconsin are using different standards.
A separate federal lawsuit filed in October by a national Democratic law firm argues the state law requiring witness signatures on absentee ballot envelopes violates the federal Voting Rights Act. That case is ongoing.
At some point we really need to shift the discussion from how shitty the Republican politicians are to how the American electorate became/remains so susceptible to their bullshit. Voter suppression is a part, but it’s one that Democrats should be overcoming. What is it about Democratic politicians that makes them so weak that they can lose so many races to fascist clowns? The solution to the fascist Republican problem has to come from changes that strengthen the appeal of the Democratic party.
People of America have two choices to vote for, realistically (and in practise). One is horrible, and the other just has to be less horrible. Neither one has to do squat at the end of the day because there is nobody holding them accountable, and there is no resistance to the status quo.
Also, Americans put way too much weight on the presidential election. The changes that are going to affect most Americans come from local government. Not enough people pay real attention to what’s happening in their own backyards. Media is a big reason why that happens but that’s for another discussion.
A way to fix your country is to have a much, much better deliverance of education. I wont call the average American stupid but they sure as fuck are ignorant of how their own country actually works and how to enact change.
I am largely in agreement, but the reality in the US is that local politics have become national. We literally have national groups putting millions of dollars into local schoolboard elections with the express purpose of preventing what you describe. The wealth divide and modern political techniques have made everything into a national fight.
There is no escaping the fact that we need national leadership that inspires citizen engagement. Current Democratic party leadership is an inspirational black hole that makes winning at the local level just that much harder.