​The showdown over restrictive voting laws in Republican states is almost over. The party says the rules combat fraud, but most judges see them as a plot to keep minorities and the poor—mostly supporters of Democrats—away from the polls. This week a circuit court said the nullification of a Wisconsin law curtailing early voting should stand. The same court will soon decide whether to weigh in on Wisconsin’s restrictive voter-ID law. Ohio eliminated “Golden Week”, when voters can both register and cast early ballots; a different appeals court rejected a challenge to the move, but the plaintiffs may ask for a fuller hearing. Most losers, wary of the justices’ 4-4 ideological split, are loth to beg for Supreme Court intervention. An exception is North Carolina, which asked the justices to suspend a ruling that Republican lawmakers targeted blacks “with almost surgical precision”. A decision on that could come next week.