Federal judge in Wisconsin strikes early-voting restrictions that passed during lame duck session

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A federal judge has struck down early-voting restrictions enacted by Wisconsin Republicans in a lame-duck legislative session last year.

U.S. District Judge James Peterson ruled Thursday that the restrictions violate injunctions he issued in 2016 invalidating similar early-voting limits. He says the lame-duck limits are clearly inconsistent with the earlier injunctions.

In the November election, the overwhelmingly Democratic cities of Madison and Milwaukee allowed voting for six weeks before the election, far longer than in smaller and more conservative communities across Wisconsin.

The restrictions passed by majority Republicans last month limit early voting to the two weeks leading up to an election. Republicans argued the time frame should be uniform across the state rather than left up to individual communities to determine.