Michael Leon blogs at http://malcontends.blogspot.com. Michael is a writer living in Madison, Wisconsin. His writing has appeared nationally in The Progressive, In These Times, OpEdNews.com, and CounterPunch.
WI Elect Board Hits DOJ-GOP Voter Suppression Effort
Posted September 11th, 2008 by mal contends
in
Update II: MJS - There is a strong whiff of partisan politics from state Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen’s lawsuit on Wisconsin's voter list.
Update: MJS: State lawsuit could affect 1 million voters
The Wisconsin Government Accountability Board (GAB) is hitting back at Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen's and the GOP's voter suppression efforts.
The GAB statement released today concerns Wisconsin's implementation of the Help America Vote Act, (HAVA) a huge project that could disenfranchise some 200,000 Wisconsin voters in the process.
The national and Wisconsin Republican parties have used voter suppression programs as an electoral tool for decades, though the efforts have been rolled out more aggressively the last two presidential elections. HAVA is proving an irresistible tool for such voter suppression efforts.
The GAB's statement is an aggressive response that is certain to draw howls from the GOP and its tool in this matter, Wisonsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen.
See Accountability Board Replies to Attorney General’s Lawsuit for copy of the full Government Accountability Board (GAB) statement.
Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen's (R) suit drew the following response from the Government Accountability Board (GAB):
The Board believes it would be counter-productive to rush this effort [cross-checking the voter registration base with the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (DOT)] and to create a significant risk, at best, of unnecessary hardship and confusion at the polls, and at worst, the disenfranchisement of Wisconsin citizens with a clear and legitimate right to vote.
The GAB statement noted the following:
In its deliberations, the Board was concerned about preliminary data that showed more than a fifth of voters’ data mismatched due to variations in names, differing data entry standards, or typographical errors. A check conducted of G.A.B. members’ data resulted in four of six Board members’ information mis-matching. ... At two public meetings in July and August, G.A.B. members considered a request from the Republican Party of Wisconsin to cross-check the data of all Wisconsin voters entered into the SVRS since January 2006.
“The Republican Party asked that all voters whose records did not match Wisconsin Department of Transportation (DOT) records be required to provide proof of residence at the polling place or to vote on a provisional ballot.
“The Attorney General has asked the court to compel the Board to adopt that position. Neither state nor federal law specifies what must be done with information gathered
from the cross-checking function."Full PR is below:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Wednesday, September 10, 2008 Kyle R. Richmond, 608-267-7887
MADISON, WI – In response to a lawsuit filed Wednesday against the Government Accountability Board (G.A.B.), G.A.B. Director and General Counsel Kevin Kennedy issued the following statement:
“Attorney General Van Hollen has advised the Board that he has filed a lawsuit about a recent decision of the Board concerning the use of a new cross-checking tool developed for its Statewide Voter Registration System (SVRS).
“The SVRS has been in place and used effectively for seven statewide elections since 2006. The Board began using the new cross-checking feature in August 2008. At two public meetings in July and August, G.A.B. members considered a request from the Republican Party of Wisconsin to cross-check the data of all Wisconsin voters entered into the SVRS since January 2006.
“The Republican Party asked that all voters whose records did not match Wisconsin Department of Transportation (DOT) records be required to provide proof of residence at the polling place or to vote on a provisional ballot.
“The Attorney General has asked the court to compel the Board to adopt that position. Neither state nor federal law specifies what must be done with information gathered from the cross-checking function.
“The Board heard testimony from a number of individuals, and carefully considered the issues presented. The Board voted to continue its practice of requiring all new voter registration applications entered into the SVRS to be cross-checked against DOT records, but not to require a retroactive cross-check of individuals who had registered and voted in previous elections.
“In its deliberations, the Board was concerned about preliminary data that showed more than a fifth of voters’ data mismatched due to variations in names, differing data entry standards, or typographical errors. A check conducted of G.A.B. members’ data resulted in four of six Board members’ information mis-matching.
“The Board is committed to properly protecting the electoral process from potential fraud. At the same time, the Board is equally committed to protecting the right of every eligible person to vote in Wisconsin, and that every valid vote must be counted.
“The Board balanced these two fundamental concerns and concluded that it is in the best interest of the citizens of this state to continue its cross-checking efforts until the entire voter database is as accurate as possible.
“The Board believes it would be counter-productive to rush this effort and to create a significant risk, at best, of unnecessary hardship and confusion at the polls, and at worst, the disenfranchisement of Wisconsin citizens with a clear and legitimate right to vote.”
###
The Government Accountability Board (G.A.B.) is responsible for administration and enforcement of campaign finance, elections, ethics and lobbying laws in Wisconsin. The G.A.B. is made up of six non-partisan, former judges and is supported by an agency of non-partisan staff members.
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Poll workers are smarter- there is a easy work around
Nobody has to do a provisional ballot, if there is a question.
Every voter, can, at any time, update their registration information.
They simply re-register.
Even a vote that is challenged, always ends with a re-registration, and the voter is given a ballot.
This stunt is not going to fly with poll workers, they know the laws and what options voters have, on election day.
Unless Van Hollen, plans on charging all his evil terrorist voters, with felonies...he'd better be careful, as the list of GOP voters is likely to have more errors.
Somebody needs to start a recall election on Van Hollen.
Replace him on Nov 4th.
The problem
is reregistering slows everything down, causing lines, creating barriers, and that could cost dems 1,000s of votes in Milwaukee, no matter the good will and judgement of poll workers.
Slow lines at polls
As concerted efforts are put forth to obstruct voting opportunities within our communities might we try to off set some of this with some simple human kindness.
If and when long lines result I would encourage voters to converse and organize amongst themselves. There are many of us who have the support of family, friends and employers that would allow for us to spend longer (though unjustifiably) periods of time waiting to exercise our right to vote.
Could those of us with flexibility support those with limited and less flexible schedules and time by allowing these citizens to move ahead in line in order to cast their votes in a more timely manner?
Pay it forward...this kindness may be an insignificant contribution in the overall picture but, as I tell my six kids "never underestimate the power of a good deed...everything you do comes back to you 10 fold"
I stand totally amazed. Why
I stand totally amazed. Why anyone would not want to make sure that everyone who votes is who they claim to be an eligible, I have no idea. The fact that someone thinks that this would lose the Dems 1,000 of votes makes me wonder why. Are there that many spurious voters registered as Dems?
If people who shouldn't vote - and that includes those who might vote early and often - do vote, that cancels out my vote. Then I am disenfranchised. And so are you. And then the vote is fraudulent. This is important enough that we make sure everything is just right.
Or are you all afraid if everything is just right that the Dems lose?
Just a thought.
Doesn't pass the smell test.
The reason people object to this is simple. It doesn't do any good, as there's always remarkably little evidence of actual voter fraud. But there is a lot of evidence that these sorts of checks make it hard for people to vote. If by their own admission, this will keep about 20% of people from going in to the polls and being able to vote without problems, and there's no evidence that it actually will stop voting fraud - the only logical conclusioin is that it is really just intended to keep people from voting, as the Republicans have done in the last two elections.
Steve Hanson
Cruiskeen Consulting LLC
Uppity Wisconsin
Does CNN Provide TOO MUCH Information?
If you've watched the previous debates, you've noticed the Perception Analyzer at the bottom of the screen. It records the reactions of about 30 "uncommitted" voters - but some say your brain can't devote its full attention to what the debaters are saying and what you're seeing.More..
by proxrte101a
How can i attach my sig?
Hi, could anyone tell me how can i attach my signatrure? Is this option not availiable for newbies? Thanks:)
Late last week I had the
Late last week I had the "pleasure" of appearing on Tavis Smiley's public radio show, along with GOP "voter fraud" zealot and propagandist Hans von Spakovsky, about whom we've written quite a bit here over the years. The show was pre-taped last Thursday, ran over the weekend, and will continue to be available at Smiley's website throughout the week.
The audio discussion, which became rather heated at times, is posted at the end of this article.
In his introduction, Smiley credits von Spakovsky as being "from the Heritage Foundation." But in addition to being funded by those unapologetic Republicanists, it goes unnoted that vS, a former chair of the FEC, recess-appointed by Bush, then blocked by the Democrats in the Senate when his appointment came up again, was formerly embedded in the Bush DoJ's wholly-politicized Civil Rights Division voting section.
At the DoJ, he helped to deconstruct the beloved Voting Rights Act of 1965 by, among other things, pushing through polling place Photo ID restrictions in places such as Georgia, against the advice of just about every career employee in the division. (The law was later found to be an "unconstitutional day poll tax" by the courts, but ultimately allowed by a higher court, and still under challenge by Democrats in the state.) He was also instrumental in bringing phony "voter fraud" charges, such as those against ACORN workers in Missouri, filed just days before the razor-thin 2006 Senate election, in violation of the DoJ's own written rules against bringing such indictments just prior to elections where they are likely to affect the race.
Perhaps even more noteworthy, but unmentioned by Smiley, is that even with all of that, the disgraced von Spakovsky has been secretly hired, at tax-payer expense, as a consultant for Bush's similarly compromised, and now ironically-named, U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, to help monitor the job that the DoJ will (or won't) be doing to monitor the 2008 general election.
In any case, vS remains an unapologetic democracy hater, hell-bent on keeping Democratic-leaning voters away from the polls and, as you'll note during the interview, a liar.
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