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State Employees Are Having A Hard Time Explaining Scott Walker’s New Voting Restrictions
United Steel Workers ^ | June 29, 2015 | Alice Ollstein

Posted on 06/29/2015 1:00:51 PM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife

When Hillary Clinton issued a sweeping call for expanding and protecting voting rights, and called out Wisconsin and other states for passing discriminatory laws, Governor Scott Walker responded by blasting her views as “extreme” and “far outside the mainstream.” He defended his own record of cutting early voting days and implementing a strict voter ID law, saying these changes “make it easier to vote and harder to cheat.”

But at a workshop held in Milwaukee in early June, state government employees struggled to explain the byzantine voting restrictions to a crowd of poll workers and community activists.

Under Wisconsin’s voter ID law, which was blocked by courts until this March, you can vote with an expired military ID, but naturalization papers and student IDs must be current. Students must bring additional proof of enrollment, such as a class schedule. All Wisconsin residents can obtain a free state ID from any DMV, but only if they have no drivers license from any state. For 18-year-olds registering to vote for the first time, a public high school ID counts, but a private one doesn’t. A bank statement can serve as proof of residence, but not a credit card statement.

“There are so many twists and turns. I hate it,” local organizer Denise Brown told ThinkProgress. “The people who passed these laws benefit from sowing confusion. They want people to get discouraged and stay home.”

Brown, who has volunteered for years registering voters in Milwaukee and the surrounding suburbs, said the provisions of the law seem to privilege some sectors of the population over others.

“Many lower-wage workers are not banked, and they’re counting on that,” Brown continued, referring to people who do not have any bank account. “Those people tend to vote more progressive, so they’re trying to eliminate them. It’s just wrong.”

Others at the workshop expressed concern about the state’s oldest voters, who no longer drive and may not have proper identifying documents.

“My grandmother was born in the South and not in a hospital,” asked one participant. “What should she do?”

Meagan Wolfe, who works for the Government Accountability Board (GAB) in Madison, answered that many elderly voters can vote absentee by registering as “indefinitely confined,” and thus don’t need a birth certificate or photo ID. She added that residents without birth certificates should bring any documents they have to the DMV, which has a special team on hand to investigate such cases. She listed marriage certificates, the death certificate of a relative, baptism papers and the birth certificate of the voter’s child as possible options.

“How does your child’s birth certificate prove when you were born?” asked one participant.

“What if someone with those other documents goes to the DMV a few weeks before the election?” asked another.

“They’re screwed,” grumbled a third.

As frustration in the room mounted, Wolfe and her colleagues repeatedly reminded residents that they were not responsible for creating the law, only implementing it. And they’ve have had to get the word out with almost no resources.

Governor Scott Walker’s budget, which must pass in the next few weeks, includes almost no money for the GAB to educate voters about the new requirements, though it includes some funds for training local election officials. Though the agency did not know whether the voter ID law would be in place when they made their budget request, they later estimated it would cost about $500,000 to inform the state’s millions of voters about the law. The state plans to give them a tiny fraction of that amount.

“We actually made a great ad campaign. We have catchy videos in English and Spanish. But we weren’t given any money to air them,” Wolfe told ThinkProgress. “Our request for additional funding was denied.”

Due to the lack of funds, Wolfe said she could only give public workshops if communities self-organize and request one, as they did in Milwaukee. She also implored the attendees to widely share the PSAs they can’t afford to get on the radio or TV.

Former poll worker and local activist Solana Patterson-Ramos, who attended the event said she’s worried this approach will leave the vast majority of the state in the dark.

“It’s a law that will really disenfranchise if we’re not informed,” she said. “We already have a low voter turnout and this is going to harm it even more.”

While some voting rights advocates are focusing on education, others are turning to litigation. On June 1, Hillary Clinton’s top campaign lawyer joined with local civil rights groups in suing Wisconsin in federal court for the voting restrictions Governor Walker has signed into law over the past five years — including additional voter registration requirements, a rollback of early voting days, the allowance of “intrusive and intimidating” election monitoring, and the voter ID law.

One of the plaintiffs in that lawsuit is Anita Johnson with Citizen Action of Wisconsin, who said the effort was part of her group’s mission to “help people fight for justice.”

“This law was meant to disenfranchise people of color, poor people, people with disabilities, people without transportation,” she said. “It appears the people who put this law in place want to stay in power, and the only way they can stay in power is to make sure that only their people get to the polls.”

Speaking with ThinkProgress just before the voter ID workshop, Johnson expressed concern for voters in districts where getting an ID is even more difficult than in Milwaukee. In more than half of the state’s counties, the DMVs are only open two days a week and offer no after-work hours. And for the estimated hundreds of thousands of Wisconsinites who lack an ID, getting to those DMVs may be challenging in areas without reliable public transportation.

“This law is going to stop a lot of people from voting. They’re going to say, ‘I don’t feel like going through all of that,'” she predicted.

But for those willing to jump through the hoops, Johnson says Citizen Action will try to answer their questions, spread the word about the rules, and help those struggling to acquire the proper documents to make sure no one is disenfranchised in 2016.

“We are going to do everything in our power to make sure people go to the polls and vote,” she said. “Education is key. That’s why we started this crusade early, when there is no election on the horizon.”


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Extended News; Government; Politics/Elections; US: Wisconsin
KEYWORDS: 2016election; aliceollstein; demagogicparty; denisebrown; election; election2016; electionfraud; memebuilding; partisanmediashill; partisanmediashills; paultardation; paultardnoisemachine; randpaulnoisemachine; randsconcerntrolls; scottwalker; thinkprogress; unionthugs; unitedsteelworkers; votefraud; voterfraud; voterid; walker; wisconsin
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June 29, 2015 - PolitiFact: Scott Walker says most Americans support voter ID laws, which make it easier to vote harder to cheat

".........The thrust of Walker’s claim was that photo ID laws are exceptionally popular among voters, and that Hillary Clinton’s view opposing them is out of step. So we will start there.

According to the polls we examined, Walker is on target about public support................

[SNIP]

Walker said, "Hillary Clinton's rejection of efforts to make it easier to vote and harder to cheat not only defies logic, but the will of the majority of Americans."

Walker is on point with the main thrust of his claim. Polls show strong support for voter ID laws, including from Democrats.

The other elements of the claim -- easier to vote and harder to cheat -- amount to a split. It’s clearly not easier to vote if the extra step of obtaining a photo ID is added. Likewise, it is harder to cheat if there is an extra verification step at the polling place.

On balance, we rate Walker’s claim Mostly True."

1 posted on 06/29/2015 1:00:51 PM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

Right on, Governor Walker!!!!


2 posted on 06/29/2015 1:03:23 PM PDT by onyx (PLEASE SUPPORT FR. Donate Monthly or Join Club 300! God bless)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

doesn’t seem that confusing to me. I betcha if the same documentation was required to get an EBT card or free admission to a Brewers game, they’d have no problem with it.


3 posted on 06/29/2015 1:04:06 PM PDT by bigbob (The best way to get a bad law repealed is to enforce it strictly. Abraham Lincoln)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
Simple.
They can't vote fraud anymore.
4 posted on 06/29/2015 1:06:07 PM PDT by Amagi (Lenin: "Socialized Medicine is the Keystone to the Arch of the Socialist State.")
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

OH!
Look!

A Union paper with a negative article about Gov. Scott Walker!

Here’s my shocked look:
{:^0


5 posted on 06/29/2015 1:06:53 PM PDT by G Larry (Obama Hates America, Israel, Capitalism, Freedom, and Christianity.)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

Govt employees being too stupid to understand simple principles is unexpected?


6 posted on 06/29/2015 1:07:55 PM PDT by Seruzawa (All those memories will be lost,in time, like tears in rain.)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

The objections are ridiculous. You need an ID to get medical services these days.


7 posted on 06/29/2015 1:09:32 PM PDT by AppyPappy
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
Make it simple.

Vote on Tuesday

Present ID

Home bound may vote absentee with photo ID required.

8 posted on 06/29/2015 1:10:18 PM PDT by ealgeone
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

I am happy to hear that union workers are confused and would stay at home.


9 posted on 06/29/2015 1:12:48 PM PDT by alancarp
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

99% of all people have an ID, most a driver’s license. You need it for government services (welfare), to fly, to go to a casino (and win), to use a credit card, to do almost everything in today’s world.

They are kvetching about a tiny tiny percentage of people who can be accommodated pretty easily.

This is really PRETENDING to have a problem so they can make Walker look bad. SEIU’s unsubtle hand can been seen here.


10 posted on 06/29/2015 1:15:22 PM PDT by freedumb2003 (When things are rightly ordered, man is steward of God's gifts and civIns law enables him to do so.)
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To: G Larry
“I just think this is people who are chronically looking for ways to be upset about things instead of really looking at what it is,” Walker said of the media and activists bringing attention to it. [Walker's comment on the Pizza dust-up fits here too].
11 posted on 06/29/2015 1:16:26 PM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

There already WAS an election with the current Voter ID law. AFTER that election, the courts delayed continued enforcement. There were no serious issues in that election.


12 posted on 06/29/2015 1:18:26 PM PDT by Dr. Sivana (There is no salvation in politics)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

Cheaters gotta cheat.


13 posted on 06/29/2015 1:20:31 PM PDT by The Toll
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

dammit, if you want to vote, get an ID...they are free...I can’t stand eternal victims, my gramma was born in the south and doesn’t have a birth certificate....well she can never fly, get a library card, buy alcohol, get a loan, get a drivers license, get married, buy an insurance policy, PATHETIC.


14 posted on 06/29/2015 1:23:07 PM PDT by terycarl (, COMMON SENSE PREVAILS OVERALL)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
No more byzantine than signing up for 0bamacare.

If you can't get an ID, then maybe you have to sit one out, or (gasp!) make an effort to get one in time for the next election.
You have 1/2 year until primaries, over a whole year until the general election.
Stop whining. Show you're serious. Get going!

15 posted on 06/29/2015 1:24:25 PM PDT by BitWielder1 (I'd rather have Unequal Wealth than Equal Poverty.)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
If I'd written the law, it would say you could present one of the following:
  1. A current U.S. Passport
  2. A current State driver's licence with current address
  3. A current Military ID.

"Students" should be voting in their home state, if they are out of state or get one of the above.

Things like "bank statements" and other such nonsense, is just used to promote fraud.

If you can't bother to get one of the above in time for the election, then you should have planned better.

 

16 posted on 06/29/2015 1:34:54 PM PDT by zeugma (The best defense against a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
A little Recon today? ...you're gonna need a shower.

First Salon and now United Steel Workers?

17 posted on 06/29/2015 1:36:50 PM PDT by TexasCajun (Hillary: Ethically Sleazy & Politically Stupid)
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To: zeugma

Oh, and no early voting. I’d specify that the polling places be open for 24 hours. If you can’t get there, you don’t vote.


18 posted on 06/29/2015 1:36:53 PM PDT by zeugma (The best defense against a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

They have an ID or they could not collect Gov welfare benefits.


19 posted on 06/29/2015 2:08:25 PM PDT by Lumper20 ( clown in Chief has own Gov employees Gestapo)
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To: terycarl

They all have an ID for TANF/food stamps.


20 posted on 06/29/2015 2:14:59 PM PDT by Lumper20 ( clown in Chief has own Gov employees Gestapo)
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