Attorneys argue Wisconsin election laws are discriminatory

MADISON— An attorney defending a host of election laws in Wisconsin being challenged as unconstitutionally suppressing votes is telling a federal court judge the plaintiffs did not prove their case.

Assistant Wisconsin Attorney General Clay Kawski said in court Thursday the judge can't toss more than a dozen laws passed since 2011 because there isn't evidence that they were passed with the intention to discriminate against non-white and young voters.

Two liberal groups and voters are challenging more than a dozen laws passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature and signed by Gov. Scott Walker since 2011.

Attorney Bruce Van Spiva argues that evidence shows Republicans intended for the state's voter identification requirement to suppress Democratic voters in Milwaukee and college campuses.

The judge has said he will rule by August.