Saturday, August 4, 2012

Willard's Law

Back in the day, when in Law School, your LakeCountyEye had to learn all the landmark laws:
  • Murphy's Law
    Anything that can go wrong will.
  • Moore's Law
    Computers will double in power every 18 months.
  • Poe's Law
    It is impossible to distinguish between a parody of religious fundamentalism and religious fundamentalism.
  • Hofstadter's Law
    It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter's Law
  • Godwin's Law
    In the course of an online political discussion, the probability of a comparison to Nazis or Hitler approaches one.
Well, incoming law students are going to have to learn a new law, Willard's Law. According to the Daily Herald ...
Nearly two month s after a formal complaint was filed about Lake County Clerk Willard Helander's actions as a poll watcher during Wisconsin's recall election, officials there have taken steps to prevent similar problems. Wisconsin's Government Accountability Board, which oversees the state's elections, has released a two-page guide to voter rights and responsibilities. In part, the document delineates what election observers can and cannot do while at polling places.
Wisconsin issues voter rights guide after Lake County clerk incident
The State of Wisconsin was thoughtful enough to publish a Willard's Law website:
G.A.B. Issues Flier on Voter Rights and Responsibilities
Legal-eyed operatives may recognize some of the key provisions of Willard's Law:

 You have the right to challenge another voter's qualifications to vote if:
  • you are eligible to vote in Wisconsin
 Observers must do the following:
  • stay in the observer area
  • direct questions and comments to only the chief inspector
 Observers must NOT do the following:
  • talk to voters
  • be boisterous or disruptive
 When making a challenge:
  • you may not challenge voters because of their appearance or the language they speak
 Frivolous challenges will not be accepted or tolerated:
  • if you abuse the right to challenge by disrupting the polling place, the chief inspector may order you to be removed
Willard's Law is must reading for operatives of all stripes. The fulltext of Willard's Law can be downloaded here:

Willard's Law
It is unknown when a copy of Willard's Law will be available on the Lake County Clerk's website.

1 comment:

Bystander said...

Like.