Even though Pennsylvania officials offered no evidence that in-person voter fraud has tainted past elections -- or is likely to occur this fall -- a state court judge ruled Wednesday that challengers of a new photo ID requirement failed to meet the legal requirement to get it put on hold.

Lawyers for the challengers say they will immediately appeal, hoping to get enforcement of the law stopped before the presidential election on Nov. 6.

"I am not convinced any qualified elector need be disenfranchised" by the law, said Commonwealth Court Judge Robert Simpson, a Republican, in denying a request for a court order to stop enforcement of Pennsylvania's Act 18, passed by the legislature in March. It requires voters to present a photo ID at the polling place in order to vote.

Several voting rights groups, including the League of Women Voters and the NAACP, joined with a group of state residents to claim that the law would force thousands of people to say home on election day because they lack the kinds of ID cards required by the new law.

At most, Judge Simpson said, the percentage of registered voters in the state without a qualifying photo ID "is somewhat more than 1% and significantly less than 9%." 

But he said that with the availability of absentee voting, the right of a person without photo ID to cast a provisional ballot, and the opportunities for those with special hardships to seek individual help from the courts, he was not convinced that any of those who filed the lawsuits or the witnesses they called will be prevented from voting.

The judge also said the challengers failed to meet the legal test required to mount what's known as a facial challenge to a law -- a claim that the law on its face is unconstitutional.  "They do not acknowledge the extremely rigorous legal standard for facial challenges requiring a demonstration that there are no set of circumstances under which the statute may be valid."

Similar efforts to stop voter ID laws in other states have been unsuccessful in federal court, which is one reason why the challengers in Pennsylvania decided to sue in state court by claiming that the law there violated the state constitution.

While opponents of the law are hoping they can prevail on appeal in the state courts, one election law expert believes today's ruling will ultimately survive.

"The decision is almost certain to stand," said professor Rick Hasen of the UC Irvine School of Law, author of "The Voting Wars."

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court, he said, is divided 3-3 between Democrats and Republicans, who are likely to support today's ruling.

But even if they did split along party lines, Hasen said, "a 3-3 tie leaves the lower court opinion in place. I don't expect there would be any fuller ruling on the merits in this case before November, or that any such ruling would lead to a different result."

A group of Democratic women from Georgia, frustrated by recent bills limiting women’s reproductive rights, decided it was time to turn the tables on the men.

Their proposed bill would amend the state’s current abortion law by banning men from getting vasectomies.

“Thousands of children are deprived of birth in this state every year because of the lack of state regulation of vasectomies, said Rep. Yasmin Neal, a Democrat from the Atlanta suburb of Jonesboro, in a video statement on Wednesday. “The day has come where men should face the same pressure and invasion of privacy that women have faced for years.

Neal, who spearheaded the bill, tells NBC News her intention is to “shin[e] light on the double standard women face in the United States.”

The anti-vasectomy bill borrows some language directly from H.B. 954, a recently drafted anti-abortion bill in Georgia that would punish abortions performed after the 20th week of pregnancy with prison sentences between one and 10 years.

But Neal is not the only Democrat trying to use a bit of humor -- or exaggeration –- to combat legislation limiting women’s reproductive rights.

Constance Johnson, a Democratic state senator in Oklahoma, believed a proposed bill  in her state -- which would require women to undergo an ultrasound and listen and see the fetus before an abortion -- went too far.

So she proposed that zygotes should have the same rights as adults, and added: “However, any action in which a man ejaculates or otherwise deposits semen anywhere but in a woman's vagina shall be interpreted and construed as an action against an unborn child.”

“My amendment seeks to draw attention to the absurdity, duplicity and lack of balance inherent in the policies of this state in regard to women,” Johnson wrote in a column for The Guardian. She later withdrew her amendment.

Opponents of abortion rights aren’t laughing.

Georgia State Rep. Doug McKillip (R), who sponsored the anti-abortion bill in the state, says Neal and her supporters are misunderstanding the issue.

McKillip -- who at the time of his interview with NBC News had not read Neal’s bill -- argues that his legislation is intended to protect life.

“This is a serious topic, not one that should be dealt with tongue-in-cheek,” he said.

“She’s making a mockery of the system,” added Genevieve Wilson, co-executive for Georgia Right for Life. “She’s ignoring the fact that children are being torn limb by limb.”

Neal counters, “We are very serious about proving a point, but also a serious bill was dropped.”

She continues, “I also find it ironic how a bill about men’s rights is ‘funny, tongue and cheek or humorous’ but a bill about women is ‘serious’ and needs to be debated, that's not fair.”

Not all supporters of the Keystone XL oil pipeline are blaming President Obama after he rejected the project proposal yesterday.

One example: Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer (D).

“What the State Department is tasked with doing is getting a complete application that says, ‘Here is the pipeline being proposed.’ But unfortunately, in an unprecedented way, the governor of Nebraska called a special session, changed the laws in Nebraska so that TransCanada no longer has a route, and there’s been no permit granted in Nebraska,” Schweitzer said today on MSNBC’s "Andrea Mitchell Reports."

Because the pipeline route is not yet approved in Nebraska, President Obama had no choice but to strike down the proposal, Gov. Schweitzer explained.

“In Nebraska, they say it’s going to be at least six months, maybe a year before they can actually grant a permit. And yet we’re standing before the administration and saying to them, ‘We have an inadequate application, it’s not complete, we don’t know where the route is, so we can’t tell you how big the pipeline will be or where it’s going to be delivered to, now we want you to give us approval.’”

He added, “These jokers in Congress that are trying to force the president to approve of an incomplete application are just making mischief. They’re not helping us develop energy,” he said.

Montana, where the employment rate is below the national average at 7.1%, has a particular interest in seeing the pipeline built -- so that its oil can reach the refineries on the Gulf coast and make it to market, Gov. Schweitzer explained.

“As the chief executive of Montana, if they asked me to approve of a pipeline with an incomplete application, I would have to reject it. And I am the biggest proponent of this pipeline in America,” he said.

Demonstrating -- once again -- football's importance in the Lone Star State, Texas Gov. Rick Perry is getting dragged into college football's conference-realignment wars.

In this instance, T. Boone Pickens -- a financial patron saint to Oklahoma State -- is calling for the GOP presidential front-runner to save the Big 12 conference.

A quick primer: Perry's alma mater of Texas A&M is looking to head to the SEC; Oklahoma and Oklahoma State are eyeing the PAC-12; and the University of Texas wants to hold the conference together, though it's keeping its options open and might also head to the PAC-12.

The potential political headache for Perry back home is that this possible realignment -- triggered by A&M -- leaves out Texas schools like Baylor, which could upset the alumni (and voters) from those schools.

Full disclosure: Your author is a proud graduate and fan of the University of Texas.

The Daily Oklahoman:

Boone Pickens doesn't believe the Big 12 is dead. The Oklahoma State benefactor even believes Texas A&M's departure for the SEC can be stopped.

"I think the Aggies are sobering up," Pickens told The Oklahoman.

Pickens has even pulled out the big sales job. He's petitioned Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who is running for the Republican presidential nomination.

Pickens said he told Perry to show America that "you fix problems, don't contribute to 'em."

Perry is a former Texas A&M yell leader. "After the Aggies leave school, they're still looking for a yell leader," Pickens said. He said he told Perry to be that leader.

Pickens, whose BP Capital Management office is based in Dallas and who has many A&M ties, said a month ago that he tried to talk the Aggie leadership into staying in the Big 12 but it was a lost cause.

Now, Pickens said he's not so sure.

"I keep thinking they're hearing me," Pickens said. "I'm not sure they're listening to me. But they trust me."

Pickens said Baylor's threat of a lawsuit is real. The Bears have declined to waive their right to sue the SEC, should the Aggies be admitted to that conference.

"Baylor is going to do anything," Pickens said. He likened Baylor to the jackrabbit that is chased by the faster greyhound but isn't caught.

"The difference is, one's running for the fun of it," Pickens said, "and one's running for its life. There's no question they'll file a lawsuit. They sure can stir up a hell of a lot of problems."

Pickens said his plan for A&M is to tell the University of Texas that the Aggies will stay in the Big 12, but only if UT folds its Longhorn Network into an equitable revenue distribution. However, that's a different cause than what irks A&M and OU about the Longhorn Network. The network's association with ESPN, which has pushed to air high school content, bothers the Sooners and Aggies, who believe it would give Texas a recruiting advantage.

"I would cut them off on that thing real quick," Pickens said. "Your problem is DeLoss (Dodds, UT's athletic director). DeLoss is a guy who's always played with all the cards.

"I told him six weeks ago, 'we understand you've got the best hand. But you can't keep doing that to people. You gotta show leadership.

"Big 12, come to your senses. Step up on leadership. Explain to Texas that whatever they have that's different, it's not (going to be) different anymore."

Pickens said his message to OSU president Burns Hargis and athletic director Mike Holder is be patient.

Pickens said if OSU and OU enter the Pac-12, "are you going to be full-fledged members? Not ever, probably. You'll be viewed as the division without the ocean. You'll get to play SC (Southern Cal) at Stillwater every eight years. That's not much of a deal."

Presidential candidates Michele Bachmann and Rick Perry, campaigning in South Carolina this week, would both seem like natural allies for that state’s governor, Nikki Haley.

Like Haley, both candidates are outspoken members of their parties -- with Tea Party connections and conservative records.

But while Haley has said she won’t endorse a candidate “anytime soon,” both presidential hopefuls have recently been trumpeting their association with the governor of the first-in-the-South primary state, as well as embracing her pet issues.

And Haley, perhaps seeking to bring more attention to her state’s contest, hasn’t shied away from the attention.

According to The State newspaper, Bachmann was the first to accept Haley’s open invitation to all candidates to stay overnight at the governor’s mansion in Columbia. She spent the night on July 19, while she was in town to sign Sen. Jim DeMint’s “Cut, Cap and Balance” pledge on federal spending.

“I am so impressed with the governor you have put into that office, and I’m extremely proud of her,” Bachmann was quoted as saying.

On Tuesday, as the presidential candidate returned to the state for a four-day swing, she once again played up her relationship with Haley.

“I just barely got off the plane and my phone rang, and it was your wonderful governor, Nikki Haley, calling me,” Bachmann told the audience at a town-hall style meeting in Greenville, adding that the governor was “as gracious as always.”

She said that Haley informed her of “her latest frustration” -- her inability to contact President Obama over the issue of illegal immigration.

“She had to hold a press conference on the issue of illegal immigration, because she was having problems. She needed 24 people from Homeland Security to do something about the immigration problem, and she couldn’t even get anyone -- this is the governor of the state -- couldn’t even get anyone to return her phone call!”

That “latest frustration” Bachmann was referring to was a press conference held more than two months ago on May 27, according to the Charleston Post and Courier. Haley accused the Department of Homeland Security of ignoring her request to access documents created through the E-Verify system that checks a worker’s eligibility, although the state’s two-dozen immigration auditors could already use the system itself.

But according to a press release on the governor’s website, Homeland Security ended up granting South Carolina’s Labor, License and Regulation Department the ability to directly access E-Verify documents on June 22.

“I appreciate Secretary Napolitano’s decision,” Haley had said in a statement.

Bachmann condemned the federal government’s treatment of Haley over the issue. “This is ridiculous. And disrespectful. So if you’re a Republican governor, you can’t expect to get a phone call?” she asked the crowd.

Bachmann also slammed the National Labor Relations Board’s lawsuit against Boeing, which decided to relocate the construction of a large plant to South Carolina, a non-union state, after labor strikes at the company’s union facilities in Washington State. The NLRB claims Boeing was punishing the unions by relocating the plant.

In her first speech on Tuesday in Spartanburg, Bachmann slammed President Obama’s appointees to the NLRB as “anti-job people” -- who “say that great companies like Boeing, willing to start thousands of high-paying jobs in South Carolina, ‘Sorry, can’t go there. They’re a right to work state.’”

But Bachmann isn't the only GOP presidential candidate to check the box by commenting on the Boeing dispute while in the Palmetto State. Texas Gov. Rick Perry, in fact, mentioned it in his speech announcing his run for the presidency at the Red State convention in Charleston on Saturday.

“[President Obama] stacked the National Labor Relations Board with anti-business cronies who want to dictate to a private company, Boeing, where they can build a plant. No president, no president should kill jobs in South Carolina, or any other state for that matter, simply because they choose to go to a right-to-work state,” Perry said.

She didn’t comment on his statement about Boeing, but Haley responded well to Perry’s decision to announce his bid in her state.

“I think his timing was brilliant," Haley said after her remarks at the Red State event, according to NBC’s Carrie Dann.

Dann reported that Haley also said she believes Perry will find the state “very welcoming.”

Perry and Haley -- both members of the Republican Governors’ Association (and Perry was its past chairman) -- also wrote an op-ed for the Washington Post together on July 14, touting their signing of Sen. DeMint’s “Cut, Cap and Balance” plan.

“As governors of states whose residents, like all Americans, are desperate for the restoration of fiscal responsibility in Washington, we are proud to have signed the “Cut, Cap and Balance Pledge” amid the debate over once again raising the federal debt ceiling,” they wrote.

Perry and Haley also have an administration official in common –- Eleanor Kitzman, who was, until July 20, the director of South Carolina’s financial oversight board, and was hired by Perry to serve as the insurance commissioner in Texas, her native state.

“Governor Rick Perry and the people of Texas are fortunate,” Haley said in a statement according to MidlandsConnect.com.

And according to the Post and Courier, Haley and Perry will be doing a bit of exchange politicking beginning tomorrow. Haley will be in Dallas, Texas, while Perry heads to South Carolina for fundraisers and campaign events over Friday and Saturday.

Whom Haley will eventually endorse isn't clear. But what is clear is her criteria for an endorsement. According to NBC’s Dann, Haley said, “What I want is a president that understands that I need the federal government to get out of the way so that I can do my job. And I will be endorsing based on that."

Thirty-one million dollars.

That's the amount of money that has been spent so far on the recall elections in Wisconsin, according to MAPlight.org. In fact, five of the nine recall races have already exceeded the previous record of $3 million spent on a legislative race in the state. Six of the nine recall races take place tonight.

“There’s a great deal of interest in these elections, we are seeing lots of money from within Wisconsin and out of state, “said Reid Magney, the spokesman for the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board.

But Magney adds that not all the money is being reported -- some outside groups like Americans for Prosperity and Citizens for a Stronger America don't have to document the money they are raising since they are registered 501(c)(4) groups with the IRS.

By the way, that $31 million figure is only going to get bigger: Finance numbers for the two recall elections set for Aug. 16 are expected to be released by the accountability board at midnight tonight.

The Justice Department today brought a legal challenge to Alabama's tough new immigration law, opening up a new front in the battle between states and the Obama administration over immigration enforcement.

The Alabama law goes even further than the Arizona law that sparked an earlier lawsuit from the government now working its way through the courts.

"Alabama's law is designed to affect virtually every aspect of an unauthorized immigrant's daily life, from employment to housing to transportation to entering into and enforcing contracts to going to school," the Justice Department said in filing today's lawsuit.

The law makes it a state crime to be in the U.S. illegally. And it goes much further than Arizona's law does in expanding opportunities for police to put immigrants in jail.

Just today, state officials said the new law will not prevent any child -- including illegal immigrants -- from enrolling in Alabama's public schools. Even so, all schools are required to keep records on the number of children of undocumented workers in school, and civil rights groups have said these requirements are so intimidating that many parents may simply decline to enroll their children.

The state law makes it a crime for an undocumented immigrant to try to find work or attempt to interact with state or local government. It also forbids landlords to rent to anyone here illegally, and it bans state courts from honoring contracts to which illegal immigrants are a party.

The Justice Department is also considering whether to sue Indiana, Georgia, South Carolina, and Utah over their tough new immigration laws. "To the extent that we find these laws interfere with the federal government's enforcement of immigration law, we will take the appropriate legal action," said Tony West, the Assistant Attorney General in charge of the department's civil division.

Enforcement of the laws in Georgia, Indiana, and Utah have been blocked by preliminary court decisions. South Carolina's law doesn't go into effect until next year.

If at first you don't succeed, try try again: Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich (D) was convicted on 17 of 20 charges in his retrial.

A jury has convicted former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich of nearly all the corruption charges against him, including trying to sell or trade President Barack Obama's old Senate seat.

Blagojevich had faced 20 charges, including the Senate seat allegation and that he schemed to shake down executives for campaign donations. He was convicted on all charges regarding the Senate seat.

The jurors delivered their verdicts Monday after deliberating nine days.

Blagojevich testified for seven days, denying wrongdoing.

Prosecutors said he lied and the proof was on FBI wiretaps. Those included a widely parodied clip in which Blagojevich calls the Senate opportunity "f------ golden."

[snip]

Jurors in his first trial deadlocked on all but one charge, convicting Blagojevich of lying to the FBI.

While petitioners collected signatures to recall Wisconsin state senators at a furious pace in April and early May, two actions on opposite sides of the aisle are now threatening to bring the process to a grinding bureaucratic halt.

In a motion filed Wednesday, the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board asked a Dane County Circuit Court judge to give them more time to evaluate the three recall petitions -- targeting Democratic state senators -- the board has yet to rule on. Separately, on Tuesday, lawyers representing Republican Sens. Randy Hopper (Fond du Lac), Dan Kapanke (La Crosse) and Luther Olsen (Ripon) filed suit in the same court  to stop the recalls against them.

After approving six recall elections -- all against GOP state senators -- and tentatively scheduling them for July 12, the board has put the recall process on hold, pending a Friday court hearing where the non-partisan body will ask a Dane County judge for more time to consider the final three petitions.

The accountability board's motion asks Judge John Markson to push Friday's deadline back one week, so the board can "properly consider" the petitions filed against Democratic Sens. Dave Hansen (Green Bay), Jim Holperin (Conover) and Bob Wirch (Pleasant Prairie). The board has struggled to process the "unprecedented workload" in the initial time allotted, because Democratic representatives for Hansen, Holperin and Wirch have more frequently challenged the validity of signatures collected by petitioners.

Republicans responded with general disgust at the news, asserting that the board is doling out preferential treatment to Democrats.

"These criticisms are understandable, but unwarranted," the Government Accountability Board responded in a statement late Wednesday evening. "The board simply cannot dismiss the rebuttal evidence and numerous correcting affidavits, affecting hundreds of signatures, filed by the Republican petitioners seeking to recall the Democratic senators." 

The board is referring to more than 200 signed affidavits presented by Democrats. The documents purportedly demonstrate systematic fraud within the Republican apparatus that gathered the signatures to recall the three Democratic state senators.

In a news release, the state Democratic Party accused the petition circulators of perpetrating fraud. More specifically, Wisconsin state Democratic officials have told NBC News that Republican petitioners falsely identified themselves as state officials and lied to residents on the Menominee Indian reservation, claiming the petition was to increase Indian voting rights.

Republicans have categorically denied the charges.

In a blow to Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) and state Republicans, a state judge today struck down Wisconsin’s controversial law stripping public employees of most collective-bargaining rights.

The 33-page decision by Dane County Circuit Judge Maryann Sumi -- appointed by former Republican Gov. Tommy Thompson -- ruled that passage of the measure broke the state's open meetings law when the GOP-controlled legislature quickly passed the provisions on March 9.

In her written opinion, the judge said Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne showed "clear and convincing evidence" that Republicans violated the open meeting law and left her no choice but to "void the legislative actions flowing from those violations."

The Wisconsin Democratic Party celebrated the ruling. "Today, Wisconsin was given further proof, from a judge appointed by Tommy Thompson, that Scott Walker and the Fitzgerald brothers treated the rule of law with contempt in their illegal and divisive overreach. The decision should be looked at as an opportunity to work together to find commonsense solutions to grow our economy and get our fiscal house in order - not to tear our state apart, as Walker and his lockstep Legislature have chosen to do."

But this isn’t the final decision. The Wisconsin Supreme Court has already scheduled arguments on the case for June 6.

What’s more, there is no immediate effect of today’s ruling. The same judge has previously blocked the implementation of the law, so it has never taken effect.

In addition, the trial judge said that the legislature could fix it all by giving new, adequate notice of a meeting -- and then pass the law again.

While Gov. Walker's office and the Republican Party of Wisconsin had no comment in the immediate aftermath of the ruling, state republican lawmakers have said previously they would attempt to pass the collective bargaining measures with the 2011-13 budget if the current legislation were voided.

“Today's tight race in New York's 26th Congressional District has become a referendum on the Republican plan to transform Medicare,” the AP writes. “The western New York district is among the most conservative in the state. Nevertheless, the latest poll shows Democrat Kathy Hochul with a slight lead over Republican Jane Corwin in the race to succeed Republican Chris Lee, who resigned.”

Roll Call: “[F]air or not, the race has been framed as the country’s first unofficial referendum on Republicans’ plan to reshape Medicare. This referendum, however, could send ripple effects deep into 2012.”

The Hill: “All of Washington will be watching New York on Tuesday, where a Democratic win in the special election could have national implications for the Republican Party. The special election for former Rep. Chris Lee’s (R) seat has been cast as a referendum on the GOP’s budget proposal and given both parties a chance to test campaign themes ahead of the 2012 election.”

The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: “Western New York has been in the spotlight as the candidates debated the future of Medicare, federal spending, taxes and the broader purpose of government.”

The Buffalo News’ editorial page: “This page recognized Corwin’s abilities, but endorsed Hochul in the race. We believe she is best suited to the task of restraining government while protecting important programs like Medicare, safeguarding the environment, improving the nation’s education and other issues.”

Polls are open from 6:00 am ET to 9:00 pm ET.

Inside a Madison courtroom Monday morning, a Dane County judge gave Waukesha county until May 26 -- a 2 1/2 week extension -- to conclude its recount in the race for State Supreme Court between conservative incumbent David Prosser and liberal challenger JoAnne Kloppenburg.

Judge Richard Niess approved the extension, requested by Wisconsin Government Accountability Board attorneys, to finish counting the roughly 83,000 votes yet to be tabulated. The original deadline -- and still the deadline for the other 71 counties -- is set to expire later this evening.
 
Waukesha is the origin of the recount controversy. After it appeared Kloppenburg finished ahead of Prosser in the April 5 election by a slim 204 vote margin, Waukesha County Clerk Kath Nickolaus announced she omitted votes from Brookfield in her initial tally.
 
The Brookfield votes swung the election in Prosser's favor, giving him an unofficial victory by 7,316 votes. Kloppenburg then asked for a recount. While Nickolaus -- a Republican -- recused herself from the recount process, Kloppenburg’s attorneys alleged problems in Waukesha continue and those problems are responsible for slowing the pace of the recount. Waukesha County Corporation Counsel told the court this morning that more than 400 exhibits have been marked. 
 
Accountability Board spokesman Reid Magney told NBC News that there will be a conference call this Friday to update Waukesha's progress towards completing its recount. So far, the board has certified the results from 60 of the 72 counties, and it expects to certify the other outstanding 11 counties -- excluding Waukesha -- by the end of the day.