2/27/2008
It's time. Nix Same Day Registration
"Wisconsin Republicans have finally been vindicated after four years of fighting for the integrity of our elections." Indeed. So says Reince Priebus, Chairman of the Republican Party of Wisconsin, in response to a 67-page report of the Milwaukee Police Department Special Investigations Unit.
Much has been written in the hours since the report was released Tuesday morning. Start with paging through it; the recommendations are summarized on page 26.
It is the opinion of the Task Force investigators that more than any other recommendation we could make, our investigation has concluded that the one thing that could eliminate a large percentage of fraud or the appearance of fraudulent voting in any given Election is the elimination of the On-Site or Same Day voter registration system.
….As an alternative, if On-Site registration is to continue in its present form, then the presentation of a government issued identification card that includes the voter’s name, address (including city) and date of birth should be presented before that person is allowed to register and vote.
AG Van Hollen agrees that photo IDs are the way to go.
Fred Dooley, at Real Debate Wisconsin, catalogues some of the report’s findings:
- 1305 registration cards without enough information to be entered into the voter database. The people who voted on those cards did not have their votes counted. (page 9)
- Evidence of double voting and double voter entries. (pages 7&8)
- "The Milwaukee Election Commission employees allowed obviously ineligible voters to cast ballot in races that were contested" (pg 17)
- Homeless votes cast from a non legal voting address. (pg. 21)
- Irregularities in student voting (pg 24)
- Recommendations on page 26, [quote above]
- Dead people are rising from the grave and voting in Milwaukee (pg 31)
- Double voting (page 34)
- Absentee votes allowed that were not eligible to vote in Wisconsin. (pg 41)
- Absentee Ballots not counted (pg 42)
- A New Jersey school teacher who has not lived in Milwaukee since for years voting absentee here, add to that a New York Attorney, a school director who has been in Hamburg, Germany since 1974 and a man who has lived in Canada since 1971. (pg 47)
- 16 examples of "staffers from a major political party" from out of state registering and voting here. (pgs 49-51)
- Conclusion: After nearly 18 months of investigation, the Task Force believes fraud was committed in the 2004 election. As one investigator stated, "I know I voted in the election, but I can not be sure it was counted."
WTMJ broke the story early yesterday morning, with promises to expand on coverage throughout the day. WTMJ’s Charlie Sykes, of course, hosted much of that conversation.
Here’s the Journal Sentinel’s “spin,” coming as a 300-word “Newswatch” at 12:43 p.m. “Spin” is the spin Freedom Eden puts on the J/S story that reminds us criminal investigations by the Milwaukee Co. D.A.’s office and the U.S. attorney’s office have long since been closed. “Translation:” says FE, “CYA mission complete.” She provides more report details and ultimately says
Bottom line: I’m mad as hell.
I’m with you Mary. Mad as hell. I don’t abide the malarkey about same day registration “increase[ing the] opportunity for all citizens to cast a vote and participate in American democracy.” We are one of only 7 states that allows “Election Day Registration” – wherein our residents need not think a whit about a critical election until deciding to wander into the poll on election day.
I also don’t abide Democrats in the legislature who continue to insist a photo ID requirement would disenfranchise thousands and thousands of voters. Yes, it would disenfranchise those voters unwilling to go out of their way to obtain a photo ID. And don’t dare call this some form of poll tax. That’s absolutely ridiculous. If these things have to be free to those without drivers licenses, so be it. If there has to be a camera on every streetcorner to take care of this stuff, so be that too. This is not rocket science. (Here’s how the state of Georgia does it.)
It’s time. Nix same-day voter registration OR require photo identification at the polling place. This is not difficult.
COMMENTS
The photo ID would also solve the problem of the poll workers not being able to hear your name and having to ask, "Huh?" every third voter.
Thus speeding up the lines.
Al (Wed Feb 27 05:39:16 2008)
As usual, Jo, you've hit the bullseye. I'm a municipal clerk in a small town. We have an international liberal arts college in our town. Every election, and especially Nov. Presidential elections, see a long line of college kids, bussed to the polling place by the college, standing in line to register at the polls. Since they live on campus they have no way to prove they have resided in the municipality for at least the legally required 10 days; I can't know how many of them have voted by absentee in their home municipalities, and more shockingly there isn't any available documentation to actually prove they are U.S. citizens! Many of these students speak with a heavy accent, but in Wisconsin all that is required is that a registered voter (usually one of their classmates that has just registered at the polls) "vouches" for them.
I just finished closing out the election from a week ago. Needless to say, the poll list was a mess, the ton of EDR forms (Election Day Registration forms) is finally entered into the Statewide Voter Registration System (SVRS), and all the numbers came out. The only problem is this is after the fact, since the election was canvassed a week ago today. Any and all illegal voters got away clean.
Duke (Wed Feb 27 07:36:06 2008)
Jo,
I read the report. Rather quickly though. I see nothing in the report that shows either a coordinated effort to cast fraudulent votes or any significant number of fraudulent votes. However, I do know that there are many examples in our history of coordinated efforts to disenfranchise voters. In all the cases I have read about there were always good reasons about how the integrity of the voting system was to be protected and too bad, that a few people couldn't vote but the greater good was achieved. We are a nation of innocent until proven guilty and are also no longer a nation of voter fraud from the party boss days.
I believe the burden of proof for your position rest upon you and not upon would be voters who don't have the increased ID requirements that you support. There is nothing in the constitution that says you need a photo id to vote.
dave allen (Wed Feb 27 08:07:07 2008)
It boggles my mind that the Left opposes voter ID, when that is exactly what is needed to ensure fairness to the so-called disenfranchised. That people can make it to the welfare office to get their food stamps and unemployment checks, but somehow cannot make it to a voter registration center once every eight years is the weakest excuse ever. If voting is important to them, voting security should be too.
Jack Lohman (Wed Feb 27 08:53:22 2008)
The notion that a pack of what Bill Christofferson calls "rabid right-wing commentators" would continue to rail on what they call "voter fraud," when even Steve Biskupic has said there wasn't any, is a sad commentary on how far our ideals of democracy have sunk.
They should be ashamed of themselves.
Rich Eggleston (Wed Feb 27 09:47:07 2008)
If you require a photo ID then out-of-state college students like myself won't be able to vote. I can't get a Wisconsin ID because that means I have to give up my California one which I can't do because then I can't be a resident there. I haven't voted in a California election since coming here. I pay taxes in Wisconsin. I live in Wisconsin. I want to vote in Wisconsin.
I support EDR because I want as many people as possible to be able to vote, even if they never think about it until election day. If that means more fraud then so be it because disenfranchisement of a legit voter is WORSE than a fraud vote.
I have a political philosophy question for you Jo, how many legitimate voters are you willing to disenfranchise in order to purge fraudulent votes. 1 for 1? 1 for 2? 1 for 10?
That's a ridiculous question Stephen because the numbers of voters that can't (as opposed to 'don't') make the effort is comparatively small - and the states that require photo IDs offer services to help as many of those voters (who would otherwise be disenfranchised) as possible. OR... to be a citizen, one has to register (or be registered) sometime prior to the election. 2 days, 7 days, whatever it is. Why is that such an insurmountable barrier? How many fraudulent voters are you willing to tolerate to prevent one supposedly 'disenfranchised' (whatever that means) voter to vote? JE
Stephen Flynn (Wed Feb 27 10:06:57 2008)
Truths, half truths and mixed truths winding up in a closed investigation. So no one was found to have committed any wrong doing?
Where are the full jails with all these malefactors?
Also it seems that the police state cannot come soon enough for someone that wants a camera on every street corner.
I have no doubt at all that there were irregularities in the 2004 presidential election. It is now 3 years later and these closed investigations are being 'spun' as a fear mongering tactic. The irregularities in Milwaukee were given national attention and were not from new voters but from a variety of attempts to suppress the vote.
Since there are no convictions for anyone committing fraud in 2004, that leaves only the pseudo legal activities of voter suppression conducted by Republicans.
Uh, no... conducted by the Milwaukee Police Department Investigate Unit - not exactly a bastion of conservatism... JE
Lon Ponschock (Wed Feb 27 10:56:12 2008)
Jo,
You do not have facts that support your position. Only a philosophy. The balance sheet of disenfranchised versus fraudulent voters is factually weighted heavily against people who tried to vote and were legally qualified to vote but were denied. The provisional ballot process is ample safeguard against people who aren't sufficiently registered. I find it amazing that people still don't understand that voting is a right if you qualify. A photo ID has nothing to do with it. How many people had photo IDs in our history? Not many. To those who state that someone without a photo id should just take the time to register since they can figure out the "welfare system" is another example of the blockheaded thinking that infects this issue. Were the homeless people in Milwaukee to be denied a vote because they were poor and homeless and didn't have a photo ID. Should they be denied maybe because some of them had mental illness and couldn't navigate the system enough to get a ID? There but for the grace of God go I, homeless perhaps, poor perhaps, perhaps mentally ill and also denied my right to vote? I think not.
Dave, is there any reason why any of these folks shouldn't be able to register a week in advance of an election? JE
dave allen (Wed Feb 27 14:12:46 2008)
Jo,
They should be encouraged to register a week in advance or more. Groups that are interested in bringing new voters into the system can try to get new voters registered with accuracy that reduces the numbers of rejected registrations. But, if they don't it is the system's responsibility to not disenfranchise them based on any deadline other than the time the ballot is cast. Again, provisional ballots are they way to go, as they have been so far.
So Dave, why is it that 43 states require registration before election day? My goshk how many voters are being disenfranchised? I can't even imagine!! JE
dave allen (Wed Feb 27 17:44:17 2008)
A social experiment made me a believer that illegals are corrupting the vote.
7:30 pm February 19, 2008 SPRING ROAD SCHOOL - 1191 County Road II
Voting station for Town of Menasha District 29, Ward 2 and District 28, Wards 3 & 4
Upon entering the voting station I step in the waiting line for Same Day Registration. I openly and verbally thanked the line of 16 other citizens for the vote they were about to cast. I opened my wallet and stated that I was proud to present my Photo I.D. Wisconsin Drivers Licenses and not just a utility bill to qualify myself as a legal Citizen. I encouraged all the others in line to submit their licenses as proof of residence and citizenship. As 14 opened wallets and purses to present such documentation, 2 individuals (male & female) of Hispanic persuasion made a bee-line for the door from the middle of the line, it was quite comical as others in line commented at their haste in exiting. We all looked at each other and shook ours hears.
Just another case of voter suppression conducted by a Racist, Bigoted, Republican, Oh My!
Score one for the Right Side.
BobW (Wed Feb 27 23:14:01 2008)
Jo,
In the states that do not allow same day registration voter turnout is lower. The disenfranchisement question is real but I also say irrelevant. The question was and still remains, what voter fraud is documented from same day registration after accounting for the provisional ballot process. Answer, little to none.It is obvious that the interest in this question is political, not factual. It is from people who don't think that people unlike them should be allowed to vote, unless they maybe have a permanent residence, or a car(driver's license) or have a good enough command of the English language etc. These advantages make it easier to fit into society. Of course it's no problem for me to register since I have those advantages. Last I looked however, the Constitution requires none of these as prerequisites to voting.
And, the "citizen" opinions held by Bob W. in this forum are exactly why same day registration and no photo id required should be the law everywhere in this country. What is he some kind of Gestapo? Is he the judge and border patrol to round these voters up and send them back to "Mexico" as he probably believes they should be? Who in the hell is he to presume that they didn't have the right to vote just because they didn't have an ID?.
Bob W.'s actions were at best stupid and prejudicial and at worst possibly illegal interference with the voting process. Bob W's actions are the poster child for why photo id laws and advance registration laws disenfranchise people. He ought to read the Constitution and the Bible and maybe do some service at a homeless shelter for a while to get his head on straight.
dave allen (Thu Feb 28 07:19:47 2008)
|
