More Voter Disenfranchisement in WI -- Walker Closing 10 DMV Offices
Karoli reported on this Sunday, but the details are even more disturbing as they come in ...
After Signing Law Disenfranchising ID-less Voters, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker Closes 10 DMV Offices:
Earlier this year, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker became one of the many GOP governors to sign a law disenfranchising voters who do not have a photo ID — a law that disproportionately affects elderly voters, young voters, students, minorities and low-income voters. Having disenfranchised tens of thousands of Wisconsin voters, Walker is now making it harder for many of these voters to obtain the ID they need to regain their right to participate in the next election:
Gov. Scott Walker’s administration is working on finalizing a plan to close as many as 10 offices where people can obtain driver’s licenses in order to expand hours elsewhere and come into compliance with new requirements that voters show photo IDs at the polls.
[...]
Lest there be any doubt, there is absolutely no legitimate purpose behind Walker’s voter ID law. Although Republicans justify these voter disenfranchising laws by claiming that they are necessary to combat voter fraud, a recent study by the Brennan Center for Justice found that only 44 one-millionths of one percent of votes are cast by people who commit voter fraud.
The day I see this guy recalled can't come soon enough. Let's hope they get rid of some of their Senators in the mean time in the upcoming recall elections.
Jesus, all these guys need is a Snidely Whiplash mustache, and they'll be all set to be cartoon villains!!!
What's next?
Tying Grandma to the train tracks?
Outlawing voting for anyone who doesn't have a "R" next to their name on the registration form - or is that too obvious?
What they are doing is SO obvious that you know they dont care if everyone knows. The fix is in, the oligarcy is about to reign.
just to force those primaries (on the taypayers' dime!)
yes, it's quite obvious that they don't care ... about their state ... about democracy ... about truth and justice ... about anything, really, besides make themselves and their cronies richer
vampires have a more human set of values ... they at least suck people dry because they must to stay alive, not to buy the koch bros a new fleet of corporate jets
That is the only thing that counts.
To compromise, is to be defeated.
And to win, you must remain PURE!!!
Sound familiar to anyone?
Hint: Godwin says we can't talk about it.
Walker is doing his part in the strategy for Obama to "fail". Although this will play into the upcoming recall it will also have an impact on the presidential election of 2012. I believe Wisconsin will be called a swing state. I've heard from friends there are disgruntled Independents and moderate Republicans in Wisconsin. People trying to direct the big picture are concerned that Wisconsin could vote (D) in 2012.
I sure hope that WI votes (D) in 2012!
Jeez, this guy is unbelievable. I can't stand to even look at his picture. :P
Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school.
-Albert Einstein
..I don't understand is, if the right wing militant governor of Wisconsin is making it harder to vote, doesn't he realize he is also making it harder to vote for these people...
http://ontd-political.livejournal.com/3983339...
When Fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in excess body fat & carrying a misspelled sign.
Love the signature!
Most excellent!
"Parachutes are allowed in checked or carry-on baggage, but may not be worn in flight."
---Southwest Airlines
the koch brothers will be sending buses to transport each and every one of them, along with their power chairs
so full of Derp...
CTHULHU 2012 "Why vote for a lesser evil?"
to volunteer and organize to get your fellow dems to the open DMV's and the polls. Don't wait Wisconsin.
Were these predominantly Black districts? Hispanic districts? Is there a pattern, in these closings, which disadvantages the disadvantaged?
???
Christianity. What a damnable disgrace.
Why in the world would these assholes do something like this if it WEREN'T exactly what they needed to win? Of course the districts are mainly Democrat, whether that's black, Hispanic, elderly, whatever. That's the whole point of the exercise!
There's always free cheddar in the mousetrap, baby. - Tom Waits
It's great to point out that the Rs are doing this in a failry transparent attempt to steal the upcoming election by suppressing the D vote.
But, not only is whining about it bad PR, this absolutely should not be taken by our side as any sort of handicap. They've handed our side a very useful canvassing and GOTV gift.
As someone who canvasses all the time here in VA, where we have several elections every year, whether we need them or not, it is constantly reinforced to me, literally in my face, that we are definitely running into voter fatigue with our repeated contacts. What I have always found works best at reconciling the voter to being contacted, is if we are able to frame the contact as offering some service, some bit of information they didn't know before that actually fits in with their agenda rather than ours, that helps them, not us. You use the contact to explain that their polling place has changed locations, or to explain how early voting works, etc. Even if the service offered doesn't end up applying to that voter, if he's on our side anyway, and is just getting a bit pissed at the tenth contact this year, they're happy to see that our side is organized to minimize the potential problem posed by the polling place having moved, or people not taking advantage of early voting, etc.
Well, the Ds in WI have just been given an all-purpose get-out-of-jail-free card with overcontacted voters. They can and should organize to counter the suppressive effect of the Rs' actions. Identify the voters or not-yet-registered potential voters who might be hampered, then contact them and offer the resources needed to get their IDs. We always have plenty of volunteers who want to do something, but don't want to canvass or phone bank. Put them to work driving people to DMVs to get their IDs. And you were going to contact these people anyway in the course of IDing and GOTV, so get that done as a by-product.
But the big advantage is with that majority of your contact universe to whom these changes probably don't apply. You have a ready-made excuse to be contacting them that won't make that contact count against what may be their otherwise limited tolerance for being contacted. The party needs to spread the word to make sure that no one gets an ugly surprise on election day when they aren't allowed to vote. Even if they were not going to be so surprised, they're glad to to know that someone is out there making sure that less-informed and active voters than themselves aren't going to be surprised. They might even volunteer to help in that effort, because if their contact with you doesn't grate, because you're offering a service and not creeping them out with hard sell like someone from AmWay or the Seventh Day Adventists, they might beign to see canvassing as a pleasant and productive experience that they might want to get in on.
Stupid, heavy-handed oppression is a gift. People are at their best when fighting back against an easily identified enemy, especially an enemy who is eminently defeatable. Use the gift.
Tell that to the people in WI who can't vote to get rid of this guy now. It's easy to sit on the sidelines and yell directions to the people who are actually trying to play the game.
There's always free cheddar in the mousetrap, baby. - Tom Waits
I can guarantee it's not the precincnt ops people in WI whining about this. Undoubtedly they're busy planning how to compensate and then exploit.
It's what I would do here in VA in their place if our delightful governor handed us this opportunity. What we actually face this year are state elections with new maps, both new districts and even new precinct lines. Sure, it's a challenge to make sure that not even one voter can't vote on e-day because we failed to let them know their polling place location had changed. But the advantage, that we have an excellent excuse to contact voters to offfer them the service of informing them of the changes, is much greater than the challenge.
The point of my comments is to try to help the reader of this site who might not be as plugged into actual political ground work as some of us connect what gets written here with that different universe. My thought is that a lot more people would try actual political ground work if it were taken out of the abstract. I suspect that the folks in WI in my place could use more volunteers for this work as much as I can.
...can you set up before you run afoul of the Equal Protection provision of the 14th Amendment?
Shouldn't the ACLU be all over this?
Oh, they passed that point when they passed the voter ID law. Think they care?
There's always free cheddar in the mousetrap, baby. - Tom Waits
Let's hope they get rid of some of their Senators in the mean time in the upcoming recall elections.
Won't help the voters who can't get ID's, though. They'll be permanently out of luck.
Every day the Rethugs are proving more and more that it's impossible to trust ANYTHING they say. They make fancy claims about wanting to help the country and the "middle class" (whatever that means anymore), but the second they get in office, they get out the axe and blowtorch and the pliers and get on with torturing Lady Liberty to death.
The day the entire PARTY and its whole population of MISCREANTS disappears from the face of the earth won't be soon enough for me.
There's always free cheddar in the mousetrap, baby. - Tom Waits
sociopathy and psychopathy. There will always be some place where the like-minded malignant gather, a point around which they can gather. What has changed in recent years, now decades, is that past cultural influences would have discouraged these types from climbing out from behind the dark spaces in the wood work. Now, the gather in the open, because the GOP has become that standard of pathological values, a move that was made inevitable from the day that they decided to embark on Nixon's so-called Southern Strategy. The GOP of Eisenhour was destroyed by that move, and it seems to me that now only pathological personalities are attracted to the exclusively pathological values that the GOP stands for. We all lose, even those who thnki they are winning.
Just wait till the powder keg explodes. Only a matter of time.
Here's the real issue. If the Governor deploys the National Guard and imposes de facto martial law (cause there will be riots, it's only a matter of time), what do the Feds do.
Vote GOP and move forward to the 18th Century.
What if, and please hear me out, what if the National Guard refuses to stop the protests and joins with the protesters? What will this evil human being do then?
Intimidation, gerrymandering, purging of voter rolls, disenfranchisement, proprietary software of voting machines, etc., and the elections are STILL close. I wonder what the results would look like if our elections were actually fair?
He was a wise man who invented beer.
---Plato
The right wing always talks about 2nd Amendment remedies.
They're gonna make me sound like a broken record.
Be careful what you ask for....etc, etc, etc.
Vote GOP and move forward to the 18th Century.
Getting a tattoo of your Soc Sec # on your forearm? Or, having a microchip implanted a la Fido.??
I think Walker is an alien robot....and that bald spot on the top of his pretty, little head is where they plug him in to put the stupid, disgusting ideas into his teensy brain.
"Egotism is the anesthetic that dulls the pain of Stupidity" - Frank Leahy
It is amazing that the thieving Republicans are doing all this stuff in the daylight now. Going on the news and holding it up in front of their hardcore choad base. How do you like your Gov. now choads? Or is this exactly why you voted for him? It's not too late to change your mind or is it? How far gone do you have to be to not see what's going on? I know Wisconsin is mostly rural but c'mon. What will it take for you to get it?
that have fallen into despotism and tyranny go through. When those who have subverted their political system feel that their hold on power is strong enough to withstand any and all challenges, they go through this stage where all pretenses of upholding laws and government serving the people are dropped. It can happen in a short time or piece meal over time. I take this as a sign that those who are pulling off these crimes against the People and Their Nation feel that they have accumulated such a degree of permanent power that they can no longer be held accountable, even when everybody and their mother knows exactly what they are doing. in a sane system, their would have been court issued restraining orders and massive involvement/intervention from the federal government long before now and it hasn't happened. that says nothing at all good about the road down which we are all currently traveling.
Let's not just get rid of some of the GOP state senators in Wisconsin. Let's get rid of the whole damn bunch!!
We must stop the Republican cancer from spreading.
These acts to purposefully disenfranchise voters, regardless the surface rationalization that is deployed in order to provide those acts cover, seem an intentional and orchestrated violation of the voting rights amendment and the voting rights act of 1964. It is intentionally discriminatory, targeting the elderly, the poor and others who would reasonably be expected to vote against the conservative agenda. It is no different that other past obstructions that have been erected to discriminate against and disenfranchise particular groups of people in the past, such as poll taxes and other inventions born of malign intentions. It derives from a coordinated and demonstrable national (read: across state borders) orchestration effort, that to my thinking easily satisfies criteria for demonstrating criminal conspiracy. And what do we hear from law enforcement that is suppossed to be defending People's rights through law enforcement-based investigations and actions? Crickets chirping. It isn't right.
Once upon a time, voter suppression was a concern of the federal government.
It still should be, of course.
So I took action!
This morning I phoned the Washington offices of Judiciary members Feinstein (busy signal, likewise for her San Francisco office); Franken (where a staffer curtly me shined-on). I thereupon contacted my other senator, Barbra Boxer, where I left a voice mail (that has probably been erased by now).
What's the use?
Good question.
I assumed it was a joke, part of Colbert's satire. But, sad to say, it wasn't. This really did emanate from the supposedly "nonpartisan" Brennan Center at NYU Law School.
Can we use a little common sense here? Does anyone in his/her right mind believe that out of 9 million Ohio votes in 2004 there were only 4 cases of voter fraud? I don't care how much you hate Scott Walker, that is laughable.
And how would the Brennan Center possibly be able to quantify any level of voter fraud? Isn't it true that every successful instance of voter fraud, by its definition, is unknown?
Why is the left so desperate to prevent voters from having to demonstrate they are who they say they are?
A valid ID is necessary to get a library card. Or buy a bottle of beer. Or pay by check at the local supermarket. If it is necessary to have valid ID for those everyday things, what is the problem with having to show ID for something as important as casting a vote?
It seems far more likely to me that the real reason some people oppose voter ID is because they DO want fraudulent votes to be cast.
But you believe that it's just a "coincidence" that he's closing the DMVs in Democratic areas to extend hours in republican areas? Do you have evidence contrary to the Brennan Center's findings? Believe it or not, you can be bipartisan and be "dedicated to strengthening democracy and securing justice, through law, scholarship, education and advocacy".
I also can't prove that Neptune is not made of green cheese.
Regarding the closing of DMV's, If your point is that this is being done to make it harder for Democrats to get a valid ID, I disagree. 1) ask around; I'll bet you don't know anyone who doesn't already have a valid ID. And b) in any event, in Wisconsin a voter ID can be applied for by mail.
I don't think you understand why proving a negative is a hard thing.
It is rather easy to prove Neptune is not made of green cheese actually.
CTHULHU 2012 "Why vote for a lesser evil?"
I have the feeling that, should there be more protests all over Wisconsin, we may see the waste of sperm who calls himself Scott Walker call out the National Guard - with orders to break up the protests by any means necessary.
I also have the feeling that the Guardsmen may just refuse to follow their orders and stand in protest with the people.
What does Governor Walker do then? He may just try a tactic used by the coal mine owners in Kentucky many years ago - bring in private security such as either Wackenhut or Pinkerton to break up the displeasing result for him. However, I doubt that Pinkerton would take part in such a thing as that.
This is the time for people power, everyone! We shall do our part - for we must! We can win, if we take the chance!
There is not enough airplay or pressure being brought to bear by progressives here. The recalls for the 6 republicans is in 2 weeks yet all I hear are crickets.
Majority of ads are pro conservative.
No major players from the progressive elite are present in the state speaking and raising support.
Herb Kohl, a man who knows that what's going on is wrong and retiring after his term has been quiet as a church mouse.
Not one word of encouragement from Obama, even though the people against Walker and the GOP extreme agenda have been battling incredible odds to at least hold back the attacks on the poor.
The line has been drawn here in Wisconsin. If progressives cannot show power by removing half if not all 6 in the recall and also maintaining the 3 democrats, organized labor is finished in this country. Indiana started out attacking private unions but backed down a little after the major pushback here in Wi.
If democrats cannot seize this moment, after the clear attack on many of their interests, and persuade the voter to reject these extremists, it will take a crisis of epic proportion to unseat the conservatives.
We can assume these DMV offices are in highly poor democratic regions. This Walker is just shameless. He's like a friggin' mafia don. How does he get away with this shit? Do governors have more power than the president of the United States???
...The GOP to enter a bill saying "No one employed by the Government" can vote in elections (or something as insane) then they will slip in a sentence making anyone who receives as Social security cheque or Medicate as being a paid employee of the government" so ineligible to vote... there goes the poor leaving only the working class and the rich to vote.
But since the Working class don't all have Photo I.D.s that will cut them down a few % leaving only the rich left with enough numbers to vote someone into office....
Laters
Sol
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