Voter Fraud Suit Thrown Out of Court, But Partisan McCain co-Chair and AG Ignores Legal Ruling and HAVA Law Anyway

What can you say about an Attorney General who disregards the clear meaning of the federal HAVA law? It could mean he is carrying out the Republican Parties wishes to cast doubt on the election and push the voter fraud myth. In fact, watch the video, where AG J.B. Van Hollen pretty much admits that’s what he intends to do.




The circuit judges ruling reiterates the meaning of that law and uphold the Federal Supreme Courts decision that he has no standing bringing the suit.
According to the Wisconsin State Journal:

The decision by a Dane County circuit judge Thursday to toss out a lawsuit seeking to force the state to double-check voter registrations going back two years likely means a smoother Election Day, with fewer voters having to re-register at the polls and faster-moving lines, officials said.

But state McCain co-chair Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen, who filed the suit against the state Government Accountability Board in September, said not doing the checks raises the odds of voter fraud, and he vowed to appeal. Van Hollen maintained the checks were needed to guard against fraud that could possibly sway the presidential election.

The lawsuit sought to force the accountability board to order local clerks to check hundreds of thousands of voter registrations since January 2006 against state driver, death and felon databases to ensure accuracy. The suit also sought to purge ineligible voters from the rolls.
Ruling 12 days before the election, Judge Maryann Sumi said Van Hollen failed to show that state or federal law was being violated.

1."Nothing in state or federal law requires that there be a data match as a condition on the right to vote.”
2. "HAVA does not supplant Wisconsin's constitutionally protected right to establish its own voter eligibility standards."
3. Van Hollen did not have standing to bring the lawsuit. The U.S. attorney general is charged with enforcing HAVA, she said.
4. Van Hollen failed to show that state or federal law was being violated. "Nothing in state or federal law requires that there be a data match as a condition on the right to vote. HAVA does not supplant Wisconsin's constitutionally protected right to establish its own voter eligibility standards."
5. Sumi also ruled that the state Republican Party has no standing to join the suit.

"We cannot lose sight of the goal of this lawsuit," Van Hollen said in a statement.

And that is to discourage worried voters that they might have a problem voting, and support the myth there is such a thing as voter fraud. Of course, that’s not what J.B. Van Hollen said:

"Wisconsin needs an accurate statewide voter list. Wisconsin needs to comply with state and federal laws designed to protect the right to vote. Looking the other way is not an option."

A check by the accountability board of voters who registered between Aug. 6 and Aug. 26 this year showed discrepancies in the information of 22 percent of the registrations. But most of those mismatches were due to transcription errors or names being recorded one way on a driver's license and another way on a voter registration card, officials said.

For voters, it means fewer of them will have to re-register on Election Day, fewer will have their eligibility challenged because of data mismatches, and voting lines will move more smoothly, some said.