 | |
| Type | Nonprofit |
|---|---|
| Purpose | Empowering Voters. Defending Democracy. |
Region | Wisconsin |
| Website | Official |
The League of Women Voters of Wisconsin is the Wisconsin state chapter of the League of Women Voters.
| | |
| Type | Nonprofit |
|---|---|
| Purpose | Empowering Voters. Defending Democracy. |
Region | Wisconsin |
| Website | Official |
The League of Women Voters of Wisconsin is the Wisconsin state chapter of the League of Women Voters.
In March 2019, the league won a lawsuit to block the passage of laws during a lame-duck session to strip incoming democratic governor Tony Evers of power before he took office, arguing that the "extraordinary session" was done in violation of the constitution. [1] The Wisconsin Supreme Court in 4-3 ruling, overturned that decision in June 2021, restoring the curbs to the governor's power made by the legislature. [2]
The chapter has also opposed proposed 2024 refendum to further weaken the power of the governor to spend federal money. [3] [4]
Pushing for redistricting reform in Wisconsin for decades, and started partnering with Common Cause in Wisconsin and the Democracy Campaign in 2012 to push for change. [5] [6]
The League also sued the state over its Voter ID laws, winning an injunction in 2012 against the requirement. [7]
The league has also filed legal briefs disputing the legality of some of the voter purges in Wisconsin, arguing 7% of the people should not have been on the purge list. [8] The group also increased education efforts around the purge to help make sure voters know how to check their registration status. [9]
Jessie Jack Hooper was the first president of the Wisconsin League of Women Voters in 1920. The chapter carried the maxim "every woman an intelligent voter," and Hooper served two terms as its first president. [10] [11]
The Wisconsin Supreme Court is the highest appellate court in Wisconsin. The Supreme Court has jurisdiction over original actions, appeals from lower courts, and regulation or administration of the practice of law in Wisconsin.
The Republican Party of Wisconsin is a conservative political party in Wisconsin and is the Wisconsin affiliate of the United States Republican Party (GOP). The state party chair is Brian Schimming. The state party is divided into 72 county parties for each of the state's counties, as well as organizations for the state's eight congressional districts. It currently controls the majority of Wisconsin's U.S. House seats, one of its U.S. Senate seats, and has supermajorites in both houses of the state legislature.
The Democratic Party of Wisconsin is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It is currently headed by chair Ben Wikler.
Scott Lawrence Fitzgerald is an American politician and former newspaper publisher. A Republican, he represents Wisconsin's 5th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives. The district includes many of Milwaukee's northern and western suburbs, such as Waukesha, West Bend, Brookfield, and Mequon. He represented the 13th district in the Wisconsin State Senate from 1995 to 2021.
Robin Joseph Vos is an American businessman and Republican politician and the 79th speaker of the Wisconsin State Assembly, serving in that role since 2013. He has been a member of the Assembly since 2005, representing most of the southern half of Racine County. Vos is also president of the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Anthony Steven Evers is an American educator and politician serving as the 46th governor of Wisconsin since 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as Wisconsin's Superintendent of Public Instruction from 2009 to 2019.
The 21st Senate District of Wisconsin is one of 33 districts in the Wisconsin Senate. Located in southeastern Wisconsin, the district comprises northeast Racine County and southwest Milwaukee County. It includes the city of Franklin, the northern half of the city of Racine, the western half of the city of Greenfield, and part of southwest Milwaukee, as well as the villages of Greendale, Hales Corners, Caledonia, Wind Point, and North Bay.
VoteRiders is an American non-partisan, non-profit 501(c)(3) organization whose mission is to ensure that all US citizens over 18 years old are able to exercise their right to vote. Through resources and media exposure, one of its main focuses is assisting citizens who want to secure their voter ID, and it often collaborates with other organizations in these efforts.
Voter suppression in the United States consists of various legal and illegal efforts to prevent eligible citizens from exercising their right to vote. Such voter suppression efforts vary by state, local government, precinct, and election. Voter suppression has historically been used for racial, economic, gender, age and disability discrimination. After the American Civil War, all African-American men were granted voting rights, but poll taxes or language tests were used to limit and suppress the ability to register or cast a ballot. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 improved voting access. Since the beginning of voter suppression efforts, proponents of these laws have cited concerns over electoral integrity as a justification for various restrictions and requirements, while opponents argue that these constitute bad faith given the lack of voter fraud evidence in the United States.
Gerrymandering is the practice of setting boundaries of electoral districts to favor specific political interests within legislative bodies, often resulting in districts with convoluted, winding boundaries rather than compact areas. The term "gerrymandering" was coined after a review of Massachusetts's redistricting maps of 1812 set by Governor Elbridge Gerry noted that one of the districts looked like a mythical salamander.
The League of Women Voters of Florida (LWVFL) is a civic organization in the state of Florida. The organization is nonpartisan; the League's Bylaws mandate that the organization will not support any political candidate or party. League promotes political responsibility through informed and active participation of citizens in government, acts on selected governmental issues, and influences public policy through education and advocacy. League's members do advocate on policy issues.
Brian Keith Hagedorn is an American lawyer and a justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, serving since 2019. Prior to his election to the supreme court, he served four years as a judge on the Wisconsin Court of Appeals.
Jessie Annette Jack Hooper was an American peace activist and suffragist, who was the first president of the Wisconsin League of Women Voters. She became involved in women's suffrage as an empowerment for women's civic clubs. In 1922 she ran against incumbent Robert M. La Follette for election to the United States Senate, a campaign which inspired her to organize women's groups to call for world disarmament.
The Wisconsin Elections Commission is a bipartisan regulatory agency of the state of Wisconsin established to administer and enforce election laws in the state. The Wisconsin Elections Commission was established by a 2015 act of the Wisconsin Legislature which also established the Wisconsin Ethics Commission to administer campaign finance, ethics, and lobbying laws. The two commissions began operation on June 30, 2016, replacing the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board (GAB), which was abolished.
The Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty (WILL) is a nonprofit conservative law firm based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The group was founded by lawyer Rick Esenberg in 2011.
The Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) is an American conservative legal group based in Alexandria, Virginia, which is known for suing states and local governments to purge voters from election rolls. The nonprofit was constituted in 2012.
Constitutional hardball is the exploitation of procedures, laws and institutions by political actors for partisan gain in ways which violate pre-established norms and push the bounds of legality. Legal scholars and political scientists have characterized constitutional hardball as a threat to democracy, because it undermines shared understanding of democratic norms and undermines the expectation that the other side will comply with democratic norms. As a result, the use of constitutional hardball by one side of partisans encourages other partisans to respond in similar fashion.
A general election was held in the U.S. state of North Carolina on November 3, 2020.
The National Republican Redistricting Trust (NRRT) is an American organization founded to strengthen the Republican Party's influence in the 2020 redistricting cycle. It was launched in 2017 in response to the formation of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee (NDRC). Adam Kincaid serves as executive director and Guy Harrison serves as senior adviser.
The 2022 Wisconsin Senate elections were held on Tuesday, November 8, 2022. 17 of the 33 seats in the Wisconsin State Senate were up for election—the odd-numbered districts. This was the first election to take place after redistricting following the 2020 United States census. This was the only election to take place under the redistricting plan set out in 2022. Before the election, 21 Senate seats were held by Republicans, and 12 seats were held by Democrats. 11 Republican seats and six Democratic seats were up in this election. The primary election took place on August 9, 2022.