More on issue ads, Election Day went well for Election Protection, post-election priorities

Free Speech
As a follow up to the position the ACLU of Wisconsin took on the governmental intervention on recent issue ads. We also got some coverage in Greater Milwaukee Today. We even shocked, shocked (!) the Executive Director of the Republican Party of Wisconsin that we took a stand against censorship.

Voting Rights
US Representative Tammy Baldwin was quoted in an Election Day Cap Times opinion piece about her thoughts about restoring the rule of law which are pretty much in lockstep with the ACLU’s post-election priorities. Now if we can get the rest of Congress to see the light.

Voting problems were minimal in Madison on Election Day. The ACLU of Wisconsin Foundation worked with local and statewide non-partisan civic engagement groups to organize an Election Protection effort. Our poll watchers were typically outnumbered at least five-to-one by Obama campaign voter protection lawyers and volunteers. Poll workers tended to be annoyed at the overwhelming presence of observers, but everyone involved seemed to be grateful that business at the polls went pretty smoothly.

Here’s a summary of the Election Protection effort in other states.

Rule of Law
So we have a new President-elect. Now what? Here is a Milwaukee Shepherd Express “open letter to President-elect Obama” with quotes from some ACLU friends.

Law.com had this interview with Philippe Sands, author of "Torture Team: Rumsfeld's Memo and the Betrayal of American Values." In it, Sands describes what President-elect Obama should do to roll back the damage of the Bush administration and says, “taken as a whole, the last eight years have been catastrophic for perceptions of the U.S. around the world and its capacity to fulfill its historic engagement with the rule of law.”