Old South in Wisconsin

Update II: See The Truth About Vote Fraud.

Update: It was all of one week ago that Van Hollen was making a speech to Wisconsin GOP delegates extolling the virtues of Sarah Palin, saying she will help expand the Republican Party (MJS, Greg J. Borowski, Sept. 4, 2008). Now this McCain Co-Chair says with a straight face that he has no conflict of interest and that he does not act for partisan or political reasons. Borowski's MJS piece notes that, "Van Hollen stressed Palin's pro-life credentials, terming her 'somebody who believes in God, who believes in family, who believes in life.'"
Van Hollen also called the Republican Party a "family".

It's fitting in a sad, ironic sense that the state and its record number of voters that catapulted Barack Obama to the nomination on February 17 now sees the GOP going old south in bringing the machinery of government to halt people from voting in November.

J.B. Van Hollen is attempting to sow delay and erect barriers on election day in the hope that the suppression (a la Ohio in 2004) will sufficiently frustrate the efforts of working people to swing an election to the GOP.

Wisconsin is seen by the GOP as a critical state in its path to 270 electoral votes.

“The rule Attorney General Van Hollen wants the (board) to implement would cause long lines and confusion at the polls on a day when a record number of citizens will be seeking to exercise their right to vote,” writes the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin said in a news release. The League added: “Worst of all, it would mean that many, many Wisconsin citizens would not be able to cast a vote and have it counted.” (MJS, September 12)

It's time for elected officials of all political stripes to speak up and challenge the shameful efforts by the corrupt GOP Wisconsin Attorney General (Wisconsin's co-chair for McCain's presidential campaign), the latest in a long line of GOP voter suppression players.

Van Hollen files his legal complaint with the full knowledge that correlating voter names with driver’s licenses has already been demonstrated to result in 100,000s of mismatches of eligible voters.

The remedy for such voters: Delay, confusion and frustration as voters make their way through bureaucratic barriers Van Hollen and the GOP want to see erected.

“Van Hollen is doing the bidding of the Republican Party to compromise the right to vote for hundreds of thousands of legal Wisconsin voters,” said Scot Ross, One Wisconsin Now Executive Director. “And he’s making taxpayers pick up the tab both for filing the frivolous, partisan suit and defending against it.”

Some links:
- One Wisconsin Now
- WI DOJ site
- August 27 Letter to the Government Accountability Board
- Aug 28 Response From the Government Accountability Board
- Sept 10 Accountability Board Replies to Attorney General’s Lawsuit