(The Center Square) - A federal judge in Green Bay denied a preliminary injunction against the Wisconsin Election Commissions’ guidance that those who wager on election results on prediction markets cannot vote in Wisconsin’s elections.
The lawsuit from Green Bay radio host Joseph Giganti had asked for an injunction against the ruling before Tuesday’s election. Giganti’s lawsuit, however, is allowed to continue. Giganti wanted to buy a wager on Polymarket on a Wisconsin election.
“While the court presumes that Giganti has demonstrated some likelihood of success on the merits, that he has no adequate remedy at law, and that without relief he will suffer irreparable harm, the balance of the harms do not favor a preliminary injunction,” U.S. District Judge Byron Conway wrote.
Giganti ultimately did vote and did not wager on Polymarket.
The lawsuit was filed in October by the Competitive Enterprise Institute, which argued that the WEC rule placed an unjustified burden on voters and it violates the equal protection clause because it treats those with financial interests impacted by an election unfairly.
"The District Court’s denial of the motion for preliminary injunction forced Mr. Giganti to choose between giving up his right to vote or purchasing election outcome contracts and facing felony prosecution," CEI senior counsel and lead attorney Soriya Chhe said in a statement. "Mr. Giganti believes voting is a civic duty. He felt it was too important to jeopardize his vote in this election and did not want to risk any felony charges. And he shouldn’t have to."
There was also a First Amendment claim saying the rules blocks Giganti’s freedom of expression.
“Because Giganti has not purchased as prediction market contract he faces no risk that his vote will be disregarded,” Conway wrote. “As such, he does not appear to have any chance of success on this claim.
“The only plausible harm of constitutional dimension that he faces is that, rather than saying that he purchased a contract predicting that his preferred candidate would win, he can say only that he would have purchased a contract valued at a few hundred dollars but for Wisconsin’s law. In terms of expressive content, there is, at best, a minimal distinction between the two statements.”
A similar complaint was filed in Kenosha County Circuit Court by H.O.T. Government President Jay Stone.
"The standard is not, and never should be, that someone must commit a crime to get redress for violations of their constitutional rights," Chhe said. "We think the court erred in deciding against the preliminary injunction and might have created a chilling effect on Wisconsin voters for this election. CEI and Mr. Giganti are committed to fighting against Wisconsin’s unconstitutional infringements on the right to vote."