ELECTIONS

Schimel drops early voting fight

Patrick Marley
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Madison —  Attorney General Brad Schimel is dropping his attempt to prevent Milwaukee and Madison from starting early voting next month in a move that begins to clarify how the presidential election will be conducted in Wisconsin.

The Republican attorney general had few options after a panel of the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday declined to block plans by the state's largest cities to allow people to engage in early voting at multiple sites as early as September.

Schimel could have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to get involved in the case, but he decided not to do that, Schimel spokesman Johnny Koremenos said Tuesday.

That means, barring a surprise development, municipalities will be able to decide when and where to allow early voting.

Republican Gov. Scott Walker and GOP lawmakers in recent years put in place laws that eliminated weekend voting and restricted when early voting could begin. A long-standing law also limited early voting to one location in each municipality.

Two liberal groups, One Wisconsin Institute and Citizen Action of Wisconsin Education Fund, sued over those limits and a host of other election laws last year. In July, U.S. District Judge James Peterson sided with them and struck down the limits on early voting, saying they infringed on the voting rights of minorities.

A steady stream of Milwaukee residents arrived at the Zeidler Municipal Building for the first day of early voting in 2014. Early voting this year will begin in late September.

Schimel tried to block the ruling, but the appeals panel let it stand for now.

Schimel is continuing his appeal, and he could eventually prevail. But his decision not to fight the panel's initial decision means the early voting plans for Milwaukee and Madison — the state's liberal strongholds — will likely be in place for the Nov. 8 election.

Madison plans to begin early voting on Sept. 26 and hopes to allow people to do so at public libraries and college campuses. Milwaukee plans to allow early voting around the same time but has not announced a specific schedule.

Under the law that was struck down, early voting couldn't have started until Oct. 24.