You can feel the \u201cgravitational pull\u201d of the political forces that are trying to make it harder for people to vote, Marquette Law School Professor Atiba Ellis said during a recent \u201cOn the Issues with Mike Gousha\u201d program. He and Molly McGrath, a voting rights attorney, advocate, and organizer for the American Civil Liberties Union Voting Rights project, called for resisting that pull through broad efforts to make voting accessible and easy for the maximum number of people.<\/p>\n
Rick Esenberg, president and general counsel for the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty (WILL), also can be seen as someone with a strong sense of gravity around voting issues. But the pull he feels leads him and the influential conservative law firm and think tank he heads to take positions that differ with those of Ellis and McGrath. In a separate \u201cOn the Issues\u201d program recently, Esenberg described WILL\u2019s work on a range of issues, including on voting issues. The pull Esenberg described was toward observing the law and judicial decisions in ways that likely would put more limits on ways to vote.<\/p>\n
The pair of programs, conducted virtually and posted on the Marquette Law School web site, continued the \u201cOn the Issues\u201d focus on voting issues. The programs are hosted by Gousha, the Law School\u2019s distinguished fellow in law and public policy.<\/p>\n
McGrath described some of the efforts of critics of the way the 2020 elections were conducted. They include strong pushes in legislatures and courts around the United States, including in Wisconsin, to restrict absentee voting. That could especially impact in \u201cheartbreaking ways\u201d people who have physical limitations that make going to polling places difficult, she said. Opposition has also been strong to other practices that make voting more convenient and accessible to people, such as offering drop boxes for ballots.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we\u2019re seeing is almost like death by a thousand cuts,\u201d McGrath said. Overall, restrictions could have a big impact on who is able to vote, especially affecting low income and minority people who have historically faced barriers to voting. McGrath said the ACLU and others will fight all such efforts in court and support legislative action to keep voting more accessible.<\/p>\n
Ellis said many of the claims about voting problems were false. \u201cVoter fraud disinformation has been a long-time danger to the American republic,\u201d he said. \u201cWe should solve the problems that exist rather than make up problems.\u201d He said, \u201cThe big lie (about voter fraud during the 2020 presidential election) is not real. The fraud storm never happened. We should not let the fear make our decisions about what our democracy ought to be.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Wisconsin election in 2020 was the safest in the modern era, Ellis said, Making options such as drop boxes available helped people vote. He said he himself voted using a drop box because it was convenient.<\/p>\n
Esenberg disagreed with those who label WILL a group that helps only Republican causes and said its commitment is to seeing laws and court decisions carried out in accord with the law.<\/p>\n
In terms of voting, Esenberg said there were legitimate issues raised by some practices during the 2020 elections, including whether drop boxes were permissible and whether it was OK to use private money to support election work by government officials in many Wisconsin communities. Esenberg said there was \u201ca partisan screw\u201d to how that money was granted.<\/p>\n
WILL was involved in efforts to question about 200,000 names on Wisconsin voting roles. Esenberg said the organization was not trying to purge legitimate voters from election rolls but wanted adherence to laws requiring people to be current residents of the community where they vote. Voting roles need to be accurate, he said.<\/p>\n
The program with Ellis and McGrath was posted on October 20, 2021. It may be viewed by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n