Download & Share: Voter Bill of Rights

Twenty.

That is the number of state legislative elections Wisconsinites may potentially vote in between now and the end of 2011. Between the primaries and the generals, there are 17 elections being held in relation to the nine state senators -- there are 33 total in office -- who were recalled in the clatter and hullabaloo that followed Gov. Scott Walker's successful defense of his budget "repair" bill last winter and spring.

West Bend - William Gardner, president and chief executive officer of Wisconsin & Southern Railroad Co. and a major donor to Gov. Scott Walker, was sentenced Thursday to two years of probation for violating state campaign finance laws.

Washington County Circuit Judge James Pouros also sentenced Gardner to 100 hours of community service at Tenor High School, a charter school in Milwaukee.

Gardner hopes he can persuade a few high school students there to learn a skilled trade and pursue a career in railroading, defense attorney Dean Strang said.

Gardner was convicted May 5 of two felony violations of state campaign finance laws after he pleaded guilty to the crimes.

The Joint Finance Committee voted today to end the independent agency status of the Wisconsin Arts Board, moving the oversight of arts to the Tourism Board. The proposal will now go before the State Assembly and Senate for final approval as part of Gov. Scott Walker’s 2011-13 biennial budget. The vote was along party lines with 14 Republicans voting in favor and four Democrats voting against.

The committee did restore some of the cuts Walker proposed, returning over $350,000 to the agency over the next two years. The Board was facing a drop from $3 million to $750,000; now it will have just over $1 million in the next budget period.

The JFC also reversed Walker by allowing the Arts Board the autonomy to select its own executive director in the future.

This Wednesday, Dutch voters will go to the polls to elect a new parliament. Each voter will enter the voting booth, unfold a large piece of paper, and use a red pencil to check a box next to their preferred candidate. Not one voting machine will be used. The Dutch returned to voting with pencils because computers can't guarantee the privacy of voters. The return to voting with a pencil has attracted interest from democracies around the world. The Netherlands is the first country to go back to voting with paper ballots, after making the transition to computers. Other countries are wondering if they should follow the Dutch example.

Not used to counting ballots

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday issued a one-sentence denial to an emergency request to halt the matching-funds portion of Arizona's publicly funded Clean Elections program. Within hours, the attorneys representing matching-funds opponents asked the high court to reconsider.

Justice Anthony Kennedy's order left open the door for the attorneys to refile, as long as they also ask the court to hear the case itself. The attorneys had asked only that the court block the disbursal of funds.

"The court appears to want assurance that the injunction would not last forever and that it would have the chance to decide the merits of the case," Goldwater Institute attorney Clint Bolick said.

Sandy Springs, the first Georgia city to try and bail out of of the Voting Rights Act, on Wednesday drew its first public rebuke, a Fulton County Commission resolution scolding its efforts.

The resolution opposing Sandy Springs' request carried no legal weight, but it sharply defined the differences between the county and a city that incorporated four years ago, with the latter claiming its residents are not receiving proper attention and service from the former and then seeking to be relieved from federal oversight of elections.