Updated at 4:54 p.m.
Wisconsin Republican Gov. Scott Walker has signed a sweeping package of lame-duck legislation that weakens the powers of incoming Democratic Gov. Tony Evers. Walker signed the bills without issuing any partial vetoes.
The bills prohibit Evers from withdrawing Wisconsin from a multistate lawsuit challenging the Affordable Care Act. The measures limit Evers’ control over the state’s job creation agency until September and restricts his ability to change Wisconsin’s voter ID law.
In signing the legislation, walker insisted it does not drastically reduce Evers’ powers. “The overwhelming executive authority I have as governor today will remain constant with the next governor,” Walker said.
Meanwhile, Evers slammed Walker for signing the legislation. In a statement, he said the people asked politicians on Election Day to solve problems, not “pick petty political fights.”
Walker also signed a bill that would limit early voting in Wisconsin to no more than two weeks before an election. Voters in some Wisconsin municipalities were able to cast ballots six weeks prior to the midterms.
A group run by former Democratic U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder says it plans legal action to block limits on early voting in Wisconsin. In a statement, Holder called the measure “a shameful attack on our democracy.”
Holder’s group, the National Redistricting Foundation, successfully sued in 2016 to overturn similar early voting restrictions. A federal court ruled the limits were unconstitutional.
