State Supreme Court hears arguments on 2 voting-related lawsuits
MADISON, Wis. (CBS 58) -- During the midst of a high stake's election cycle, justices on the Wisconsin Supreme Court provided some clues on how they might rule on two voting-related lawsuits during oral arguments Tuesday.
One case asks the court to release documents related to ineligible voters, and another will determine the fate of mobile voting vans.
The Wisconsin Voter Alliance, led by Ron Heuer, is spearheading the latest effort to try and obtain records about voters who have been determined by a court to be incompetent to vote.
Heuer, who has fueled conspiracy theories about the 2020 presidential election and questioned the outcome, is asking justices to allow counties to release records when a judge deems someone not competent to vote.
During oral arguments, justices were skeptical on why these documents should be made public and questioned the purpose of the lawsuit.
"What it sounds to me what you are trying to do is introduce fear that there is some sort of illegitimacy going on in the election in the state of Wisconsin, and that concerns me deeply," said liberal Justice Jill Karofsky.
Conservative Justice Rebecca Bradley also questioned whether there should be an exception to open record laws when seeking documents from a judge related to incompetent voters.
"It really doesn't matter if you are in fact trying to introduce fear into the legitimacy of election or if you just trying to determine whether or not election officials are doing their jobs by removing people from the polls who have lost the right to vote," Bradley said to Erick Kaardal, Heuer's and WVA attorney.
Kaardal argued WVA purpose is to ensure eligible people can vote and those who are deemed ineligible by a judge do not.
Attorneys seeking to dismiss the case said there are other avenues, such as asking law enforcement, to determine if someone is voting illegally.
Earlier this year, the 2nd District Court of Appeal in Waukesha ruled in favor of the Wisconsin Voters Alliance in a lawsuit against Walworth County seeking documents about incompetent voters.
It comes after the 4th District Court of Appeals ruled WVA wasn't allowed those records.
Walworth County then appealed to the state Supreme Court. A decision on the case is not expected to come before the November election.
Mobile Voting Vans
The state's high court also weighed in on the fate of mobile voting vans Tuesday.
Racine used one in the weeks leading up to the August 2022 election to help voters cast in-person absentee ballots.
In January, a Racine County judge ruled the vans are illegal because there's no state law authorizing the use of them and found where they were located in the city favored Democrats.
Conservatives are now asking the court to ban mobile voting vans in future elections.
During oral arguments, an attorney for the conservative law firm Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty argued the vans were previously deemed illegal, could lead to voter fraud, and expressed concerns they could disproportionality benefit one political party or the other.
Liberal Justice Rebecca Dallet said the last argument "didn't make any sense."
"How can you make this presumption that having this other site in their ward is somehow going to benefit anybody? It could hurt Republicans. It could hurt Democrats," Dallet said.
State law prevents early voting sites that give any political party an advantage.
In June, the state Supreme Court kept a lower ruling in place than banned the use of mobile voting sites.
The court will now decide whether they can be used in future elections. A decision is unlikely before the presidential election on Nov. 5.