GAB Unhappy Being GOP's Punching Bag
Republicans wrung weeks of propaganda about voting fraud from the recount they lost in the June 5th Racine Senate election won by Democrat John Lehman, and the Government Accountability Board has said in writing it is tired of unfounded attacks on the election process the Board oversees in the state.
It's a bold move by the Board, as the entire campaign for Voter ID in Wisconsin - - led by Republicans armed with less data and more ALEC-driven partisan talking points - - is a judgement that the Board has failed to protect the integrity of the election process in Wisconsin.
Pdf file of the letter, here.
The Voter ID crowd has barely said a word about multiple election snafus in Waukesha County, where Kathy Nickolaus, a secretive GOP County Clerk, has posted erroneous result and kept election data on a password-protected computer off the county system.
She is leaving office at the end of her turbulent current term in January, 2013, and also leaving taxpayers a bill of more than a quarter-million dollars in fixes to a system she 'managed.'
That's where the election system in Wisconsin has had its reputation challenged.
But don't expect that legislative Republicans will take kindly to the Board's letter. If the GOP wins back the Senate and retains the Assembly, look for the GAB's budget or authority to take a retaliatory hit.
14 comments:
No doubt- the Republicons are a mean authoritarian bunch.
Voter ID is supported by a large majority of our state's population both Democrats and Republicans.
To try and paint voter ID as simply a Republican tactic is disingenuous to say the least.
No: Voter ID is principally a GOP/ALEC led effort to steamroller voter turnout in Democratic areas. Law enforcement does a good job finding the few verifiable cases of illegal vote-casting.
The GOP has fueled this fake narrative for a long time - - look at the drama in Racine.
In a representative government, not everything is decided by referenda.
Oh, but Rayguns has proof there was voter fraud in Racine. He just doesn't want to share it because we're too lazy to google it on the internets for ourselves. If only we'd use his sources: squawk radio, Fox 'news', and Super Pac-funded 'think tanks', we could know it for sure too.
Well, since you like to cite polls.... according to a Marquette poll in Jan 2012, voter ID is supported by 66% of state residents.
http://www.todaystmj4.com/news/local/138113753.html
Is your claim that 66% of residents are GOP/ALEC?
Or, perhaps some of those 66%'rs who support voter ID are in fact democrats who think for themselves and realize a problem when it hits them square in the face?
Polling for abridging rights is ridiculous.
Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know that we were debating "rights." I thought we were discussing who are the 66% of WI residents that support Voter ID.
Your statement was that Voter ID was a GOP/ALEC idea to steamroll voter turnout in democrat areas.
The poll clearly show that a WI majority (which would need to be both democrats & republicans)
66%(+/- 3.8%) of WI citizens support voter ID.
Still not sure how this is abridging rights. Everyone can still vote and there is no cost. All that is being asked is that you prove you are who you say you are.
The real issue is that hardcore democrats know that it helps their side so they are reluctant to do anything.
Reagan's Disciple... No it means that sadly Wisconsin has way to many FOX news viewers. Which further proves that P.T Barnum was right. There is a "sucker born every minute and two to taken em". Because Fox news keeps saying voter ID fraud occurs doesn't make it so.
Read the state constitution. An ID is an unconstitutional barrier.
We don't put people's rights to a vote.
Now it's you who is being disingenuous, Rayguns. You understand, though you may pretend not to, that poll results are entirely contingent on how the question is worded.
While many people, myself included, would be Ok with some sort of voter photo ID, we are not OK with legislative changes that prevent or suppress voting, especially when such measures are directed to the votes of one party. You'd be the first to scream voter fraud if such efforts were directed at your party. Think about it and be honest, if you're capable of either.
It's all in the details and the implementation of the law. For example, I'd accept a photo requirement if students were permitted to vote using their student ID's, and the legal changes were accompanied by a government-sponsored voter registration drives, same-day photo ID/voting, or neighborhood voter registration where people could have their photos taken and register in their neighborhoods without having to travel to limited-hours, out-of-the-way DMV offices (remember, these are the same folks that don't drive, or they would already have a pictured Wis driver's license, right?) and other measures to ENCOURAGE more people to vote, rather than make it so difficult as to discourage them.
And also to accompany such legislation with increased penalties for activities intended to confuse or misinform voters, such as flyers that tell people their polling place is at X when it is really at Y. Or that the election takes place on August 15, when it really takes place on August 13. Or staking out-of-state "poll observers" at polling places to harass, intimidate, or question voters' registration or voting. These dirty tricks are attributed to YOUR SIDE and do far more to discredit the election process than the occasional felon on parole, or non-verifiable address that is likely to be a clerical error.
I'd be far more concerned about the County Clerk that lost 10,000 votes, even if they were found a few days later, than a handful of clerical mistakes or even the rare case of purposeful double voting that you and your ilk harangue about all of the time.
Come to think of it, that should be a felony too: publicly discrediting the voting process with no proof. I'd say that is quite a bit more fraudulent than the few minor instances you've been able to come up with.
Read the state constitution. An ID is an unconstitutional barrier.
We don't put people's rights to a vote.
I guess we'll let the Wisconsin Supreme Court decide that.
Yes, the state Supreme Court in all of its non-partisan wisdom and decorum, and Prosser Chokehold Professionalism.
RD, you are refusing to abide by the court rulings on this already? You only abide by rulings from the state high court (and the higher court, I presume)?
Then you are refusing to abide by the state and U.S. Constitutions, too. Thus, I have no respect for you, as you do not respect it.
Sorry Anon,
The SCOTUS has already ruled that voter ID is not a significant issue. So it is really you who is choosing to ignore the highest court in the land.
Meanwhile in Wisconsin:
I will continue to show my ID and you won't until the WI SC gets it right. I'm not ignoring anything nor am I'm forcing anyone to show an ID. So I am not really sure what your point is or how I can even ignore this ruling.
Get ready, it may not be in November, but we will have voter ID here in WI.
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