Independence Day Means Resist, Vote and Fight

Emboldened American racists feel free to act out and display
antipathy towards those with dark complexions. The crowd
at the Make America Great Again rally in Minnesota on
June 22, 2018 joined the president in jeering and outrage.
Photo by Tom Brenner, the New York Times

Madison, Wisconsin — A University of Wisconsin at Madison press release reminds the community that residents can vote absentee now in the coming Aug. 14 state and congressional primary elections.

Gov Scott Walker (R) and legislative Republicans (and only Republicans) passed dozens of voter obstruction laws making voting and registering more difficult.

Communities like UW-Madison are fighting back by helping voters cast ballots.

Wisconsin Republicans realize their only chance of hanging onto to power is to obstruct voters who are likely to vote against Republicans. Voter obstruction is a brazen, partisan project, and like Walker' effort to block elections and close early-voting sites reveals a hostility to democracy and liberty, the foundation of our society.

The sight of black voters casting their Article III right to vote under the Wisconsin Constitution is appalling to Republican white supremacists who dominate the Party. I witness this hostility every Election Day.

Republicans see young, black and brown folks canceling proper, informed white votes as illegitimate. White supremacists on Madison's southwest side and in the city of Fitchburg's City Hall, for example, have worked as enthusiastic partners in the Republican voter-obstruction project.

The Republican strategic war against voting in 2015 (Wisconsin Act 261) outlawed most municipal Special Registration Deputies, (except for care homes), who formerly could resister voters and verify residency and voter identity.

At the annual Wisconsin Republican convention this Spring, Republicans vowed to stop same-day voter registration and out-of-state college voters because of the anti-Republican bent of these two demographics.

The July 3 UW-Madison news release is reproduced below. The release offers a step-by-step guide to absentee voting.
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You can vote now in the August primary election

It’s not too early to vote in the Aug. 14 primary election.

Offices on the ballot are governor, U.S. senator, U.S. representative, odd-numbered Wisconsin State Senate seats, and all Wisconsin Assembly seats.

You can request an absentee ballot now using your spring 2018 Madison address, so even if you’re away for the summer (or don’t want to go to the polls), you can still be a Madison voter (If you have graduated and have no plan to return to Madison, you should re-register wherever you are moving).

What to do:

• Snap your ID: Take a picture of your voter ID (Wisconsin driver’s license, passport, or student voter ID). If you’re using the student voter ID, visit go.wisc.edu/verify and take a screenshot of your enrollment verification.
• Email your request: Send the pictures to voting@cityofmadison.com. Use the subject line “August Absentee” and include your name, your current Madison address, and “send me a ballot.”
• Be sure to say if you’re already registered to vote; if not, you can send the registration form in now, too.
• Finally, give the mailing address or email where you are now. If the delivery address or method changes, just email voting@cityofmadison.com
• Questions? Email voting@cityofmadison.com

Want to vote in person? Already you can vote in-person absentee at the city clerk’s office, 210 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., Room 103, from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday until Aug. 10.

Most other in-person absentee voting sites don’t open until late July or early August, including three on campus.
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