Judge Declares Wisconsin Voting Laws “Intentionally Discriminates On Basis of RACE”…
In Wisconsin, U.S. District Judge James Peterson changed voting laws he considered “unconstitutional”. The states voting laws eliminated weekend voting, limited early voting hours, and cut in-person absentee voting to one location. Judge Peterson also cut the state’s voter ID law. Though the state gave out free IDs to those who need them, 70% of voters who needed the IDs were non-White. Of those who were denied IDs, 81% were non-White.
Judge Peterson, who was appointed to the bench by President Barack Obama, found these changes “intentionally discriminates on the basis of race”. In a 119 page decision, Peterson wrote:
“I reach this conclusion because I am persuaded that this law was specifically targeted to curtail voting in Milwaukee without any other legitimate purpose. The legislature’s immediate goal was to achieve a partisan objective, but the means of achieving that objective was to suppress the reliably Democratic vote of Milwaukee’s African Americans,” Peterson wrote.
Black Votes Purged Across the Nation:
In other states, such as Kansas, Texas, North Carolina, and North Dakota, federal judges found voter laws deliberately restricted the votes of both Black and Hispanic votes to curtail Democratic victories, as well as laws in Virginia actively suppressing Black political power.