Everything old is new again. Not just racism and misogyny, but also voter suppression and dirty politics. The April 1 Wisconsin Supreme Court election is high stakes. In addition to the Supreme Court justice vote, it offers Wisconsin voters an early opportunity to express dissatisfaction with the direction Republicans, led by Trump, are taking the country and to reject the tactics Elon Musk is using in an effort to lure voters. Musk is offering payouts to signers of a petition opposing “activist judges.” While perhaps narrowly skirting the technicalities of what is illegal, his offers are certainly offensive to anyone who believes our elections should be free and fair. Democrat Susan Crawford is running against Republican Brad Schimel for a 10-year term on the Wisconsin Supreme Court, a race that will determine whether a majority of the court, which is technically elected on a nonpartisan basis, will remain in the hands of Democrats, who won a 4-3 majority on the court following the 2023 election of Janet Claire Protasiewicz. That race, the most expensive judicial race in American history, saw $50 million in spending by candidates, political parties, and interest groups. The Associated Press reported a week ago that “A group funded by billionaire Elon Musk is offering Wisconsin voters $100 to sign a petition in opposition to ‘activist judges,’ a move that comes two weeks before the state’s Supreme Court election.” Musk held a discussion on X with Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate Brad Schimel. During that conversation, he explained why he was making that offer and funding $18 million in expenditures through various political groups in hopes of electing Schimel and flipping the ideological majority of the court: “This is a very important race for many reasons,” Musk said. “The most consequential is that [it] will decide how congressional districts are drawn in Wisconsin, which if the other candidate wins, instead of Justice Schimel, then the Democrats will attempt to redraw the districts and cause Wisconsin to lose two Republican seats. In my opinion that’s the most important thing, which is a big deal given that the congressional majority is so razor-thin. It could cause the House to switch to Democrat if that redrawing takes place.” Musk tweeted that he would hold an event this Sunday night where only people who had signed the petition could attend and “I will also hand over checks for a million dollars to 2 people to be spokesmen for the petition.” Previously, he had to walk back an offer to give two $1 million “appreciation” checks to two people who had already voted, after Wisconsin’s attorney general sued to block the payments, challenging their legality. He uses the conceit of having people sign a petition against activist judges to get around laws that prohibit paying people to vote. Apparently, it’s worth a lot of money to get a chance at gerrymandering Wisconsinites’ ability to elect candidates of their choice out of existence—the same strategy we’ve seen used in other states. Musk tweeted this, midday on Saturday:
Now an apparent expert on American elections (as people who post on Twitter have a habit of deciding they are), Musk tweeted on Friday that “Even more important than the Wisconsin Supreme Court race is the ballot initiative to add voter ID to the state constitution, which will ensure integrity in elections.” Requiring “voter ID” is one of the oldest plays in the tired Republican playbook of voter suppression that long predated Trump. In fact, putting an ID act in place was the impetus behind the Shelby County v. Holder case that led to the Supreme Court’s 2013 ruling gutting the Voting Rights Act. The Alabama legislature had passed a voter ID act. But it had to get through “preclearance” from either DOJ or a court before it could be implemented. Understanding that the measure, which was sure to have a discriminatory effect on Black and other voters would not pass muster, their strategy was to end the preclearance requirement itself, and they were successful. Alabama’s ID Act went into effect. The result? In the decade following the decision, the difference between turnout among white voters and turnout among Black voters—called the racial turnout gap—increased significantly. Before then, it was narrowing, with significant gains made in the two previous presidential elections. Those gains ended with the ID Act. Limiting the types of identification voters can use by passing these sorts of laws results in suppressing voting for the citizens Trump and Musk are most interested in discouraging from participating in our nation’s elections. Trump obviously isn’t among those who believe in free and fair elections. He proved that following the 2020 election with his false claims of fraud and incitement of his followers to the Capitol on January 6. This past week, he made that even more clear, issuing an executive order that formalized some of the voter suppression measures long sought by Republicans. Among them is a requirement that voters prove their citizenship in order to register. Of course, that’s not easy unless you happen to have a passport. There is some suggestion that star IDs (or REAL IDs) can be used, as can certain military documents, but not all of them provide proof of citizenship. If you can’t get together documents like your birth certificate and Social Security card, you may find it difficult to get a REAL ID. And, of course, with personnel cuts, it may take more time. I recently got an Alabama star ID, but only by shelling out cash to get a copy of my birth certificate online. It was fairly painless, but I already had a passport on hand, and my married name is on both that and my birth certificate. All that to say, now, before cuts cause deep delays, is a good time to get as much documentation and proof on hand as possible. But of course, that’s not easy or financially accessible for everyone, and some people won’t focus on it until the next election is at hand. That’s how voter suppression works. Alabama hasn’t always been a red state. As recently as 1998, it was still mostly blue in local and statewide elections. In 1998 a Democrat won the governor’s race by more than 200,000 votes and won 55 of the state’s 67 counties. In the next twenty years, the state flipped into the reliably Republican category. Part of that shift involved the Republican Strategist Karl Rove, dubbed “Bush’s Brain,” who wrote the road map and shepherded the campaign contributions that flipped Alabama’s elected Supreme Court from Democrats to Republicans between 1994 and 2000. Today, there are no Democrats on that court. The last one, Chief Justice Sue Bell Cobb, who served as the court’s lone Democrat, resigned in 2011. When my husband Bob ran against Roy Moore for the Chief Justice slot in 2012 (an unusual race where the Democratic party disqualified its nominee for making homophobic statements and Bob stepped in late) he came close to beating Moore with 48.23% of the vote, and Doug Jones beat Moore in the Senate race in 2017 (after allegations Moore had dated young girls surfaced). But Alabama is now solidly red, with Trump garnering 64.8% of the vote in 2024. Alabama Senator Katie Britt won with 66.8% of the vote. There are no longer any statewide elected Democrats. Beware the Alabamization of America. It’s real. Conservative policies like the Voter ID Act and anti-immigrant laws get tried out in the state to see if they can stick on their way to the national stage. Now that includes tactics like trying to swing majorities on state supreme courts, as well. Money, as they say, talks. Musk is trying to repeat Rove’s success in Alabama in Wisconsin, and perhaps beyond, albeit flashing cash a little more directly. The Lincoln Project is running this ad, trying to take Musk’s involvement in the race head on. “It’s just another rich guy trying to make you into a puppet…it sure as hell isn’t to help Wisconsin,” the narrator says as the ad plays.  If you live in Wisconsin, get ready to vote. If you know someone who lives in Wisconsin, make sure they’re ready. And let’s all of us make sure we’re paying attention, because this week, Wisconsin is all of us. If it works there, we can expect to see these tactics spread further. We’re in this together, Joyce You're currently a free subscriber to Civil Discourse with Joyce Vance . For the full experience, upgrade your subscription.
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Saturday, March 29, 2025
Wisconsin and, Strangely, Alabama
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