Although Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen's case over voter registration was dismissed last week, the case is not closed yet, as his next plan of action is to appeal to a higher court.
According to Kevin St. John, special assistant to Van Hollen, the attorney general will appeal, but no paperwork has been filed yet.
When a lower court gets the law wrong, parties appeal to a higher court, and that's what I will do,"" Van Hollen said in a statement following the Dane County Circuit Court's decision.
Mike McCabe, executive director of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, said he does not expect Van Hollen's case to succeed in a higher court and believed all along the case was ""groundless.""
Van Hollen accused the Government Accountability Board of not following a provision of the Help America Vote Act mandating voter registration checks, but McCabe said he does not believe HAVA requires voters to be punished because of discrepancies between databases.
""I think it's highly unlikely that any appeal will be heard before the election, and I think it largely becomes a moot point after the election, so I just don't see this lawsuit really leading anywhere,"" McCabe said.
According to UW-Madison political science professor Donald Downs, Van Hollen has a good grasp of the law and would not be appealing the case if he did not believe it had merit.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled against the Republican Party of Ohio filing a similar lawsuit, but Downs said Van Hollen has a better chance of success because he is the attorney general.
Downs said though the case is not likely to be appealed before Election Day, the issue is also about stopping voter fraud in future elections.
""I think Van Hollen would have every incentive in the world to pursue [the case] because he's not just concerned about this election, he's concerned about future elections and this could have an impact on that,"" Downs said.
