Washington D.C.-based law firm Elias Law Group, led by Democrat attorney and Russian collusion hoaxer Marc Elias, failed to convince a federal judge in a recent case challenging Wisconsin’s election integrity laws. The firm’s argument, which the presiding judge termed “head-scratching,” sought to challenge the state’s statute mandating that a U.S. citizen must witness and sign an absentee voter’s ballot. According to Elias Law Group, this infringed upon voting and civil rights.
Presiding over the case was U.S. District Court Chief Judge James D. Peterson, an Obama-appointed judge. He dismissed the petition against the Wisconsin Elections Commission, expressing his consternation at the claims, insinuating that they lacked logic and soundness.
“The absurd results to which plaintiffs’ interpretation would lead are reason enough to reject that interpretation,” Peterson wrote. “It is plaintiffs’ interpretation that leads to head-scratching results.”
Furthermore, considering the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the judge clarified that neither explicitly prohibited a state from enforcing a witnessing system for absentee voting. The Elias Law Group alleged that the witness requirement would violate these federal statutes. Elias‘s lawyers “have not shown that either the Voting Rights Act of 1965 or the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits a state from requiring absentee voters to prepare their ballot in front of a witness,” wrote Peterson.
Elias’s firm argued that witnessing and signing absentee ballots was overly arduous and inconvenient. However, Judge Peterson upheld the traditions of election integrity, maintaining that such steps were necessary to prevent potential electoral fraud and the undue influence of ballot harvesting.
In response to the irregularities and controversies that plagued the country in 2020, Wisconsin has taken a national lead in ensuring election integrity heading into the 2024 election.
