AP story on confusion over what to do about absentee ballots already mailed and those in holding pattern.

Friday’s 7th Circuit order was the height of irresponsibility which did not even bother to consider or mention the difficulty of rolling out voter id when the voting process had already started. 

Someone wise once said: “Court orders affecting elections, especially conflicting orders, can themselves result in voter confusion and consequent incentive to remain away from the polls. As an election draws closer, that risk will increase.”  Oh yeah, it was the U.S. Supreme Court. Why didn’t the Seventh Circuit listen?

Instead we have election officials as ping pong balls and the very real possibility WI voters will be disenfranchised because they cannot get the right documents (or the right documents needed to get the right documents) in time for the imminent election. Even if voter id could be smoothly implemented in Wisconsin, it should not be done in this irresponsible way. In Pennsylvania, courts put the state’s voter id on hold when the state could not demonstrate it could get ids into the hands of voters who wanted them in time. Here, there’s no chance it can be done in time.