This database consolidates and tracks litigation concerning the effect of the pandemic on election law. The purpose of this tool is to provide an interactive list of relevant cases that can be searched by issue, court, status, and jurisdiction.
Case Details
Taylor v. Milwaukee Elections Commission
Closed
Taylor v. Milwaukee Elections Commission, No. No. 20-cv-00545 (E.D. Wis.), 2020 WL 1695454 |
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| Case Summary | Washington state senator Lena Taylor, Tory Lowe (candidate for alderman in the City of Wilwaukee's 6th aldermanic district) and Justice Wisconsin Inc. (non-profit founded by Lowe) sued the Wilwaukee Election Commission and its members, seeking a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction to (1) postpone the April 2020 primary election, (2) permit early voting to continue, (3) extend the deadline for registering to vote electronically or by mail, and (4) "cancel" in-person reigstration and in-person voting. Complaint alleged defendants violated plaintiffs' civil rights under 42 U.S.C. 1983 (under First, Fourteenth, Sixteenth, and Twenty-Sixth Amendments), 28 U.S.C. 2201 and 2202, and defendants abridged plaintiffs' voting rights in violation of 52 U.S.C. 10301. The Court denied plaintiffs' request for relief, stating that a federal court ordering the delay of a state-wide election raises federalism concerns which outweighed the requested relief. The Court also cited to the Supreme Court's decision in Republican Nat'l Committee v. Democratic Nat'l Committee (140 S.Ct. 1205) which held that the district court erred in ordering that absentee ballots mailed and postmarked after the April 7, 2020 election date be counted if received by April 13, 2020. | |
| Filed | 04/03/2020 | |
| State | Wisconsin | |
| Type of Court | Federal | |
| Circuit | Seventh Circuit | |
| Status | Closed | |
| Last Updated | 03/13/2021 | |
| Issue Tag(s) | Vote-by-Mail (Mail Voting Deadlines (for Applying, Receiving, Postmark), Other Vote-by-Mail Issue) In-Person Voting COVID Concern (Suspension of In-Person Voting, Early Voting Availability/Dates) Voter Registration Deadline Postpone/Cancel Primary Deadline "cancel" in-person registration (allow people who show up in person to register or vote) |
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| Complaint(s) | 04/03/2020: Complaint filed. | |
| Dispositive Ruling(s) | 04/05/2020: Order/Ruling, PI Denied (re Dkt. No. 1-15) | |
| 04/06/2020: Order/Ruling, PI Denied (re Dkt. No. 11) | ||
| 05/12/2020: Order/Ruling, Case Dismissed | ||
