If Liberal Judges in Dane County Can't Rule on Voter ID, why would we Trust an Activist Conservative Judge in Waukesha County?

Don't let the right wingnuts take your eyes off the voter ID issue winding through the courts. Just because Judge Flanagan signed a recall petition. It's his right as a citizen and has nothing to do with voter ID. So that aside, here's more of Judge Flanagan's decision, and a little commentary from jsonline. 

It's entirely possible that the temporary injunction against Wisconsin's voter ID law issued Tuesday won't stand. Nevertheless, Flanagan raised enough issues:

"Nineteen people obtained a voter ID card only after paying between $14 and $39.50 to obtain a certified birth certificate from Wisconsin or elsewhere," the judge wrote. That's not a lot of money, but the Virginia poll tax that was struck down in 1966 was only $1.50. No one in this country should have to pay a dime to vote.

He also noted that although an Indiana voter ID law was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, that law was fundamentally different from Wisconsin's in three ways: The Indiana law was based on the U.S. Constitution, which does not expressly guarantee the right to vote, as Wisconsin's constitution does; the Indiana law is not as rigid as Wisconsin's and offers alternative voting opportunities to those without a photo ID;

and those who challenged the Indiana law did not back up that challenge with the "substantial evidence that has been offered by the plaintiffs in this action."

But you know, we here in Dane County are a nationally known negative stereotype. We’re liberal; union supporting liberals; in one of the most livable, nicest cities in the country. As opposed to Waukesha's place on the list. You can’t do anything here without being vilified in the most hideous way. Even our Democratic neighbors in Milwaukee had to put up with this bizarre Milwaukee Journal Sentinel portrayal:

As we noted, a sitting judge, particularly in Dane County, the seat of state government, has no business signing a recall petition. That was a serious error in judgment.

See, you can’t sign a recall petition, “particularly in Dane County,” without being seen as a commie radical terrorist hell bent on destroying America. They then take that back some:

But the recall is not the same issue as voter ID; Flanagan is not ruling on the recall or on anything having to do directly with Walker. And on the substance of the arguments, despite the flaws, Flanagan does appear to be right to hold off enforcement of the law until the courts settle the case.