GOP Writers: Reading Is Bad on Voter Suppression Case

Those wishing that the 2008 election will result in commentary from the rightwing that is not quite so uninformed and dull will be disappointed.

Reading the reaction to the news that the GAB is considering a timetable of its maintenance of its statewide registered voter list (SVRS), one is left with the impression that desire for rightwingers to read before commenting constitutes a lost hope. Hyperbole? I wish.

Regarding the Van Hollen v. Government Accountability Board case, one would believe that those rightwing writers would read the briefs, relevant sections of the HAVA statute and the text of Judge Sumi's decision to dismiss. Sumi’s decision is 22 pages-long and is a quick read.

But rightwingers, like Dad29, show a stubborn resistance to facts. Hey, they were right all along, Dad29 would have you believe.

Writes Dad29 in GAB: "Doh! Van Hollen's Right!",

Van Hollen should bill back the AG's lawsuit-expenses to the GAB for this (news that the GAB is deliberating on HAVA checks dating back to 2006 RE (SVRS)).

Some points:

Citing precedent, Sumi writes in her decision that: "'It is evident that this court has consistently placed a premium on giving effect to the will of the voter.' ... 'the will of the voter in terms of the ability to go to the polls, vested with the franchise' (to vote)."

Sumi means that the disqualification of voters (outside a narrow class) desired by the GOP, or the forced casting of provisional ballots has no compelling basis in case law.

As for the HAVA statute, HAVA mandates the creation of a statewide voter registration list (SVRS), but is careful to leave the maintenance of the list up to individual states’ discretion, in accordance with the states’ existing election law and federal election law, like the Voting Rights Act of 1965—one of the end legislative results of uppity blacks and assorted liberals, including northern liberal Republicans of the time.

As pointed out by Sumi and everyone else who has bothered to read the text of HAVA, except for the GOP: “Neither HAVA nor state law require a database match (between SVRS and the DOT and Social Security databases) as a precondition to voting. … HAVA does not supplant Wisconsin’s constitutionally protected right to establish its voter eligibility standards.”

This means that the GOP’s desired kicking people off the voting list (except for a small class of voters) ain’t going to happen.

The GAB is the proper state agency to administer the voting list.

It has announced repeatedly that it will check the list, SVRS, against the existing databases, and it is now doing so, per its authority and responsibility and discretion.

The GAB will not make a match the basis for casting votes, even provisional ballots, except for a small class of voters, again discounting the expressed wishes of the GOP and Van Hollen who still scream voter fraud.

The GAB is now considering rules for the maintenance of the SVRS. That's the news.

C'mon Dad29, try reading before writing commentary, if you don't like it, you can always go back to what you're doing now.