As with other states, there has been a long, protracted battle in Wisconsin as the Republicans, led by Scott Walker, fought to impose some of the most severe Jim Crow voter suppression laws in the nation.
Those fighting for the right to vote, led by the ACLU and the unions, won a stay of the voter suppression law earlier in the year.
Then in mid-September, with less than two months before the election, the rug was pulled out from underneath the voters' collective feet. A panel of judges of the Federal Seventh Circuit - including Walker's favorite judge, Diane Sykes* (whom Walker talked about putting on the US Supreme Court if her were president) suddenly lifted the stay and put Jim Crow back in charge of the November elections.
Even as grassroots groups scrambled to help people get the photo IDs, there were some that just wouldn't be able to vote, including 84 year old women who never missed an election before.
Thankfully, the US Supreme Court stepped in late on Thursday and put an end to the nonsense, at least for now. With a 6-3 majority, SCOTUS reinstated the stay.
The bad news is that SCOTUS could still back off and allow the voter suppression to continue unabated. The other bad news is that the current Attorney General, J.B Van Hollen, is vowing to do everything he can to keep those uppity minorities, poor people and students from screwing up their plans to steal the election.
To the people of Wisconsin, make sure you get off your arses and go forth to vote like you will never be able to vote again, because if you don't, you just might not be able to.
*Diane Sykes is the former wife of Charlie Sykes, a squawk radio host in the Milwaukee area. Charlie left Diane, his second wife, under scandalous circumstances, to marry into the Bradley Foundation's wealth.
