It was no surprise to read that African-Americans, Latinos, students, Jews and gays are hit with bigoted jokes and disparaging comments behind closed Republican doors.
Such voters tend to vote non-Republican, thus are illegitimate to the contemporary Republican powers that be, a group that now openly boasts about its distaste for non-whites.
The League of Women Voters of Wisconsin, founded by the suffragists who fought for 75 years to win the right to vote for women, are known as "Vultures" by the Wisconsin Club for Growth which funds GOP candidates.
Vultures. [Wisconsin Club for Growth source code reads: "<meta property="og:title" content="League of Women Vultures"/>."
The text of an e-mail sent by Melanie G. Ramey of the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin illustrates the disdain Scott Walker and his allies have for those committed to universal suffrage and a government of the people.
By Melanie G. Ramey
We don’t often write about other organizations, particularly when we disagree with many of their positions. However, that has not stopped the Club for Growth from writing about us a number of times. An organization with ties to the Koch brothers, Club for Growth (CFG) is currently under investigation for possible campaign finance violations. It sent out an ugly April 2 email with the not-very-original subject line “League of Women Vultures.” Really.
The email took issue with a League of Women Voters® of Wisconsin statement objecting to Governor Walker’s signing of a law banning evening and weekend hours for early voting.
The CFG email reads: “Demonstrating that it doesn’t know or doesn’t care what it’s saying, the League of Women Voters said, “If lawmakers truly want to be fair for voters across the state, they will scrap this regressive law as soon as possible.””
Their snide comment notwithstanding, CFG did quote exactly what the League said. We know that by treating all municipalities equally the new law does not treat all voters equally. Each municipality is allowed one early voting site, regardless of its population. It’s hard to ensure “one person, one vote” when, for example, Milwaukee election officials will have only 9 seconds to process each early ballot under the new restrictions.
This week the Governor signed more bad election bills into law. One will allow election observers to stand as close as three feet from the table in our polling places, where they will be hovering over the voting process, compromising voters’ privacy and adding to the stress of our local election officials.
Another new law will make it virtually impossible for many qualified citizens to register to vote, including students and anyone else who does not have a document such as a Wisconsin driver’s license or bank statement with their own name and current address.
The Governor’s signing statement glossed over the impact of this restrictive new law, stating only that it requires clerks to record the type of document submitted as proof of residence. Either the Governor didn't read the amended bill he signed or he wasn't proud of signing it.
Don’t be fooled. These new laws signed by Governor Walker are extreme. Founded by the suffragists who fought for 75 years to win the right to vote for women, the League of Women Voters® knows suppression when we see it. While our 17 local Leagues will educate and assist voters in complying with the new restrictions, we are also looking into all possible ways to reverse these unfair laws, including legal action.
No comments:
Post a Comment