But thanks to a federal voting rights case, One Wisconsin Institute v. Thomsen, metro voting districts have been freed to offer voters increased access to cast ballots and have those ballots counted, (In These Times).
Madison has led the way, with Milwaukee and other municipalities following suit, (Wisconsin State Journal).
In Dane County, defending voting rights from Republicans and only Republicans has become a community effort, to the chagrin of Republicans who complained about "too much access to the voters," (The Capital Times).
Groups such as the Dane County Voter ID Coalition reach out to disabled seniors, students, and ethnic minorities, frequent targets of voter obstruction.
"We go to where we think voting rights may be at risk—food pantries, college campuses, homeless shelters—to register voters and help them get an ID, including taking them to the DMV," says Marian Matthews of the League of Women Voters of Dane County. "I feel strongly about social justice and I think voting rights are critical to achieving it," (In These Times).
Julia Gilden of the All Voting Is Local campaign works with hundreds of people in Dane County in the fight for the vote, (Sommerhauser, Wisconsin State Journal).
Reports the Wisconsin State Journal:
In Madison, Milwaukee and other Wisconsin cities, the campaign has enlisted volunteers to go door-to-door, mostly in low-income neighborhoods with a larger share of voters who could struggle to comply with the ID requirement. Voter turnout data also are used to target neighborhoods that saw significant turnout drops in the 2016 election.
The volunteers ask voters if they have the ID they need to vote, and if not, they steer them to someone who can help them get one.
Bottomline: Voters are turning out in record numbers and Republicans are desperate.
Reports Chris Aadland in the Wisconsin State Journal this week:
The number of people voting early in Madison and Milwaukee has already set records for a midterm election, and officials in both cities expect the surge in early voting to continue.
With Election Day one week away, 22,387 in-person early ballots have been cast in Madison — well over double the number who voted early in the last midterm election in 2014 — as of Monday afternoon.
'We’ve already set a record,' Mayor Paul Soglin said Tuesday. 'Based on what’s happened to date, based in terms of early voting, we will undoubtedly set a new record' for overall turnout.
Near-presidential level turnout likely spells doom for Republicans across Wisconsin. Wisconsin voters whom the Republican Party have obstructed likely won't be casting ballots for Republicans this time around.
And not just in Wisconsin.
Voters casting ballots is a phenomenon Republicans have worked against for many years across America.
Early voting is a weapon against this anti-democratic effort.
Reports Audrey Carlsen in the New York Times this morning:
More Americans are taking advantage of absentee and early voting this year, with 28 million ballots already cast nationwide and four days of the campaign still to go. In 18 states and Washington, D.C., advance vote counts have already surpassed those of the last midterm election.
In Wisconsin, 420,015 ballots have been cast as of Nov 1, reports Carlsen.
A new legal, legislative and administrative offensive against voters by Republicans will be waged before 2020.
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