No Voter ID Needed, Just Vote

Update: The U.S. Dept of Justice will monitor Milwaukee, Wisconsin voting locations, along with 27 other jurisdictions across the county, Attorney General Eric Holder announced today. (U.S. DoJ and BuzzFlash)

Holder, in a statement Monday, said of the effort, "Over the last few months, leaders from the Voting Section of the Civil Rights Division have received information from a wide variety of citizens and groups. Based upon our independent and non-partisan consideration and expertise, we have dispatched federal monitors to polling places around the country — just as we do during every election season."
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Republican efforts to block black and brown people living in Milwaukee from voting are a key element of Scott Walker's reelection campaign.

NO VOTER ID NEEDED to VOTE

Despite the worst efforts of Republicans to obstruct voters, no voter ID is needed this Election Day in Wisconsin.

If you are not registered to vote, you can register at the polls on Election Day.

Many voters still lack accurate knowledge that NO VOTER ID IS NEEDED to VOTE.

Skipped over in coverage in the late October Marquette University Law School poll (Question 44) is the fact that 29 percent of respondents believed erroneously there is no U.S. Supreme Court order preventing the GOP's voter ID law from going into effect on Election Day. Another 14 percent did not know.

No voter ID is needed to vote in Wisconsin.

Registering to vote

You do need to be registered to vote. To register at the polls on Election Day, bring proof of who you are, and where you live (proof of residence). Folks who need to register are those who have not voted in four years or have moved since the last election. Check if you are registered online.

If registration lines are too long, call the municipal clerk and demand more registration stations be set up. Long registration lines show the election clerk screwed up. Election clerks are public servants, with salary and benefits paid with public dollars. Remember that.

There is a voter bulletin board at election sites with phone numbers of municipal, state and federal officials.

"During major statewide elections, 10 – 15 percent of Wisconsin electors register to vote or update their voter registration on Election Day," notes the Wisconsin Governmental Accountability Board (GAB).

Republican criminal interference with voter

If you see Republicans interfering with a voter, call all municipal, state and federal officials and watchdog agencies like the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin and inform you see a crime in progress.

Interfering with the process to vote is a criminal offense. Scott Walker is coming off a bad week and Republicans will try to stop voters from voting if they feel they can get away with it without being charged with a criminal offense.

So, advise jotting down the contact information on voter bulletin boards at election sites with the phone numbers of municipal, state and federal officials to protect voting rights.

If everyone who voted in 2012 votes on November 4, Scott Walker is a diminishing stain in Wisconsin history.

No one will ever confuse Wisconsin election bureaucrats with voting rights activists. Each voter needs to police Republicans.

As Joel Bleifuss writes today: "The results of the 2014 midterms—whether the Republicans take control of the Senate and whether GOP governors like Wisconsin’s Scott Walker win re-election—will tell us if Jim Crow is alive and well and helping the Right win its stealth war against democracy."

Thank you, Joel, and long live Wisconsin.