On January 29, 2009, the Milwaukee Lawyer Chapters of the American Constitution Society and the Federalist Society co-sponsored a presentation on “The Methods of Judicial Selection” at the University Club in downtown Milwaukee. The presenters were Judge James Wynn of the North Carolina Court of Appeals and Associate Justice Harold See Jr. of the Alabama Supreme Court. The topic was timely since Wisconsin has for two consecutive years seen highly politicized elections for seats on the state Supreme Court. The event was attended by a crowd of 60.

The speakers agreed on a number of issues. Elections have become costly, attracting third-party ads, and have been marked by a degree of ugliness. But nearly 80% of the states use the election process, and Tennessee is poised to join that number. No state has switched to merit selection in at least 15 years. In Judge Wynn’s view, elections should be used but should be improved by public financing, as in North Carolina, and by greater public education.

The ACS Milwaukee Lawyer chapter presented a compelling and timely panel on Voting Rights Issues on October 6, 2008. Panelists included Professor Daniel Tokaji from the Michael E. Moritz College of Law at Ohio State University; Jenigh Garrett, counsel with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund; and Kathy Nickolaus, Waukesha (WI) County Clerk. The panel moderator was Louise Petering, President of the League of Women Voters of Milwaukee County.

The discussion ranged from issues of national importance – including improper purges of eligible voters from registration lists – to issues peculiar to Wisconsin – like the recent lawsuit of the State Attorney General (and McCain State Co-Chair) to require matching of newly-registered voters back to 2006. Panelists agreed that Wisconsin’s same-day registration law would eliminate issues like requiring provisional ballots since voters could overcome objections by simply re-registering at the polls. They also pointed to the practice of allowing voters to cast a ballot at a previous residence if they had an intent to return there in the future.