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Appeals court to stay out of voter purge case in Wisconsin

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A state appeals court will stay out of a closely watched Wisconsin case over the purging of up to 209,000 registered voters in the battleground state.

In a ruling Tuesday, the District 4 appeals court in Madison said it won’t take the case until the state Supreme Court decides whether it will handle it.

An Ozaukee County judge last month ordered the state Elections Commission to purge people who may have moved from the voter rolls. The lawsuit was filed by the conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty law firm.

Democrats are fighting to stop the purge, saying it will unfairly impact their voters. Republicans say they merely want to ensure that people who have moved can’t vote from their old address.

The state Elections Commission in October mailed about 232,500 voters to tell them records indicated they had moved and that they needed to verify the address where they were registered to vote was current. Of those, about 209,000 have not requested continuation at their current address or re-registered at another.

President Donald Trump won Wisconsin by fewer than 23,000 votes in 2016.

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