Last week in my update concerning our UW-Parkside filing I indicated that WEC did honor, for the first time, our Parkside case to be heard by an Administrative Judge. The initial hearing did occur from 1Pm – 3PM on (attached here Ron Heuer Declaration) Thursday, March 7th with Administrative Law Judge Erick D. Defort presiding.
This was a highly informative hearing, a first for me as I and WVA are the plaintiffs in this very important case. During this initial prehearing meeting a number of legal questions were answered and a timetable was established by the administrative law judge for the actual hearing. Several decisions/important takeaways from the hearing.
- Impartiality of the Judge – the Judge described his background and ensured that both parties were agreed that the Judge would be impartial.
- Both parties agreed on extending the deadline for the case to be heard in as much as there is much planning for witnesses and hearing prep required by both sides.
- A determination was made as to the actual claim against UW Parkside, which being that UW Parkside violated 52 USC § 21083(a)(1)(A), by implementing a voter registration list in a discriminatory manner. If the alleged violation is proven, the law provides that “the commission shall order appropriate relief.”
- Certain issues were stipulated.
o That UW-Parkside took no HAVA funds (directly or indirectly) at all times relevant to this case.
o UW-Parkside intends to engage in GOTV and Voter Registration Drive (VRD) activities in 2024.
- Then the normal housekeeping, setting dates for all the various activities with the actual hearing date to be June 3-5 in Milwaukee.
In as much as we have sufficient time for discovery, we may have the opportunity to subpoena certain of the players at the U of W system as well as some of the left-leaning 501C3s. This could lead to having these folks under oath testifying as to what they are really doing.
THIS IS A BIG CASE because, if we win a favorable decision at UW-Parkside, we would be in a position to go after the balance of the UW system across the state as they are all doing the same darned thing.
From my perspective and basic fairness, it is plain and simple. The employees at the UW-Parkside are state employees and should not be involved in the voter registration activities nor the GOTV activities. In my eyes they are no different than an elected municipal clerk who handles the elections. It is forbidden for them to be involved in the voter registration and GOTV activities as that work is left to the campaigns, political parties, and candidates.
Here is an interesting analogy that I found simple to understand.
The left leaning 501C3s like CTCL and others claim they just want to “help” Americans vote. But consider this Super Bowl analogy.
Municipal clerks are the referees of American elections, and the parties are the teams trying to score. If you heard the refs in the Super Bowl were aiming to boost the total points scored, would you feel better about the game’s fairness? What if you learned the refs were receiving money and training from people who previously worked for one team’s offensive coaching staff?
Most Americans would say, “Wait a minute. Scoring points is the job of the teams, not the refs.” And if the refs were being influenced by alumni of one team, confidence in the Super Bowl would plummet.