Republican Dirty Tricks, Cont.

We've often noted (as recently as Saturday) seemingly endless Republican efforts to suppress, play games with or otherwise diddle with the right to vote in this country.  Courtesy of right-wing asspuppets in Kansas and Wisconsin (assisted by a panel of the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals), we bring you two more examples of their patented chicanery:

Kansas:

After Democrat Chad Taylor submitted his request to be removed from the November ballot, clearing the way for independent Greg Orman to make it a one-on-one contest with the highly unpopular Republican Sen. Pat Roberts, Kansas' ultra-right Republican Sec. of State Kris "Starts and Ends With Koch" Kobach ruled Taylor's name would remain on the ballot, in an attempt to divide the anti-Roberts vote.  So, to court:

This morning the Kansas Supreme Court heard arguments from attorneys representing Democrat Chad Taylor and Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach about whether the Democratic challenger's name should be removed from the ballot this November. [snip] 

The ruling could be critical for the Senate race in Kansas. New polling from PPP shows Greg Orman (KS-I) now has a growing lead against Pat Roberts (VA-R), but there are still Kansas voters who intend to vote for Chad Taylor if he remains on the ballot...

Several court-watchers seem to believe that Kobach's representative had a hard time explaining to the State court how Taylor had not met a "substantial compliance" standard that was otherwise used in other situations where a name was removed from a ballot in Kansas.

But, for every potential victory, there's a potential loss in the offing.

Wisconsin:

In a stunningly fast decision, a federal appeals court in Chicago reinstated Wisconsin's voter photo identification law on Friday — just hours after three Republican-appointed judges heard arguments on reactivating the hotly debated law in time for the November election. 

In a brief order, a three-judge panel of the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago said, "The State of Wisconsin may, if it wishes ... enforce the photo ID requirement in this November's elections."  (our emphasis)

We haven't seen whether this ruling can be appealed to the full 7th Circuit, or whether if it were reviewed by the full court it would make a difference.  The court is one of the most Republican-loaded in the nation with 4 Democratic justices and 10 Republican justices.  That math doesn't bode well for "justice."

UPDATE:  On Thursday, Sept. 18, the Kansas Supreme Court ordered that Democrat Chad Taylor's name be taken off the ballot, a major defeat for Kobach and Roberts.  Haha.