A quick Wisconsin review of Trump’s new executive order:
tl;dr – This does *not* change anything for our upcoming election for Supreme Court on April 1. Here’s why: 1/7
1-State elections are governed by state law, not federal law. The WI Supreme CT race is a state race only (there are no federal elections at all on April 1), so any federal demands do not and cannot affect this race. 2/7
2-the EO focuses on the NVRA (National Voting Rights Act) and purports to require proof of citizenship for those persons using the NVRA form to register to vote. WI is *exempt* from the NVRA. 3/7
3-WI is prohibited by a state court ruling (from Waukesha county!) from even using the NVRA registration form referenced in the EO. No voters are registering in Wisconsin using that form. They are prohibited from doing so. 4/7
4-The part of the order demanding proof of citizenship to register (again - for Federal elections!) doesn’t even take effect for 30 days, which puts it well past our Election on April 1. 5/7
5-WI already uses paper ballots or paper voting trails. We do not have direct recording machines in the state. There is a paper record of every vote cast in the state. 6/7
Finally-It is disappointing that the federal government is attempting to make people worry about voting this close to an important election. I hope this is not a ham-fisted attempt to shore up a failing bid for the WI Supreme Ct by the candidate currently behind in the polls. 7/7
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Happy to report that there is now a Legal Defense Fund set up for Judge Hannah Dugan! It is created in compliance with the Wisconsin Code for Judicial Ethics & Ethics for Public Officials!
The Fund "will be professionally managed by a separate entity experienced in fund management; its work will be monitored by counsel experienced in professional ethics. [former WI Supreme Ct justice] Janine P. Geske will oversee and serve as a trustee of the fund." 2/
**There are significant limitations on who can give!**
It is clear from the list of people who cannot give that a great deal of thought has gone into the administration of this fund so that any possible conflicts of interest or ethical problems can be avoided. 3/
She has since been indicted under similar claims. Some as spurious as allowing a litigant to appear by zoom (something that happens all the time).
As Judge Sol Wachter said, a grand jury would indict a ham sandwich if asked. 2/
In my earlier analysis, I did not consider the issue of judicial immunity. Judge Dugan's defense team, however, has considered it and filed a well-reasoned motion on the topic. 3/ storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…
Let's discuss the *actual* charges against Judge Hannah Dugan using the Complaint against her.
tl;dr - she sent the man in question into the public hallway where agents there to arrest him watched him walk by and did nothing. 1/ storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…
¶12 - They had a 6-member task force including one ICE, one CBP, 2 FBI and 2 DEA agents. Whew!
¶10 - because of courthouse security, they knew he would be unarmed.
6 people for one unarmed guy. OK. 2/
Starting at around ¶20 there's a lengthy discussion about Judge Dugan's demeanor - "visibly angry" and "walking quickly." Have they never met a judge? Do you think they like having their calendar messed up? Would the same words have been applied to a male judge? 3/
Why do so many people feel like late-night ballot totals are new (when they are not)? Answer: It has everything to do with the difference between “calling” an election, and having complete totals in. A thread: 1/10
When the margins in a race are very large (1 side is winning by a lot) the press calls the race even though all ballots aren’t accounted for. This frequently happens in states that are ‘red’ or ‘blue.’ For example CA gets called even though it takes them a long time to count.2/10
Sometimes a presidential race is called before WI tallies its votes. Why? Because our 10 electoral votes don’t affect the likely result. Again - this is a “call”, not the actual results. And that’s fine! If we can know who won, great! 3/10
Wisconsin voting: A brief update on the 193 City of Madison absentee ballots that were not counted. The WI Elections Commission (WEC) did not learn about these ballots until 12/18/24, long after the election had been certified (on 11/29/24). 1/6
12/19/24, WEC staff asked for a call with the Madison Clerk and City Atty., which occurred on 12/20. WEC asked the clerk for details on how this happened, and a statement was provided by her on 12/23. That statement gave some information, but left many outstanding questions. 2/6
On 12/26, I directed our legal team to prepare a memo on what authority the WEC had to further investigate the matter. That memo indicated that the WEC did have the power to investigate, and I asked that a meeting be scheduled so that the WEC could vote to investigate. 3/6
Important update on Wisconsin: Milwaukee Central Count hit a snafu today. The tabulator machines have doors that are supposed to be locked and sealed before tabulation. Sadly, that did not occur this morning. Both political parties agree that nothing was wrong with the 1/
Tabulation so far. However, in the interest of transparency and so that people can have confidence in the tabulation, the decision was made to re-tabulate the ballots run through so far. That’s about 34,000 ballots give or take. So the machines are being zeroed out, and 2/
The ballots will be re-run. This will delay Milwaukee’s reporting. However, this was absolutely the right decision for them to make. And it was important to make this decision *before* the results were known. This is the right thing to do 3/