Wisconsin Metro Clerks Stand Up for Voting Rights

Voters in Wisconsin are getting help from
municipal bureaucrats who administer
elections at the local level, reports the
Chicago-based In These Times.

'Republicans won't let me vote.' But many city workers help against Republican Party efforts

Madison, Wisconsin — Since 2011 Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) worked on his ambitious agenda that obstructed voters, closed early-voting sites, gerrymandered districts and even blocked elections until Walker was ordered by judges to follow the law, allowing voters to choose their state representatives.

The extraordinary state judicial intervention was preceded by less than two years by a major federal case, One Wisconsin Now v. Thomsen (2016), that swept away much of Walker's work against voters.

But it's not just judges defeating Walker's anti-voting purposes.

A nonpartisan effort by Wisconsin election administrators in metro voting districts is offering expanded access for voters, reports a piece in the Chicago-based In These Times.

Four out of the five most-populous Wisconsin cities are implementing or contemplating expanded voter access to the ballot box this summer. Green Bay, Wisconsin's third most populous city, has no such plans though it reportedly includes voter info in its water utility bills.

The mayor of Milwaukee, Tom Barrett, posted a communication on Facebook this week, saying:

Barrett linked to a piece at Fox6Now News-Milwaukee.

From voting rights worker and attorney, Molly McGrath, who works around the state to help voters blocked by Wisconsin Republicans' anti-suffrage work:

"They won't let me vote." That's what one Wis woman told volunteers from this @peoplepower group when they knocked on her door. She didn't have the ID required by the state's strict #voterID law.

Are you near SE Wis? Join their canvass on May 12 and May 20. DM me for details. pic.twitter.com/0sNSxHfrYW

— Molly McGrath (@votermolly) May 10, 2018

Wisconsin election clerks are helping voters now against a determined foe, the Republican Party.

Concludes In These Times: Near-presidential-level turnouts will signal the end of the Scott Walker voter obstruction project by defeating Walker at the polls with a lot of help from voters' municipal friends.