Record Early Voting in Wisconsin Spring 2019 Election, Reports One Wisconsin Now

Madison, Wisconsin — Bad news for Wisconsin Republicans. Good news for everyone else.

The Republican Party is losing its war on voters. In particular, the Republican effort to shutter early-voting sites is faltering.

From One Wisconsin Now:

Early and absentee voting in the April 2019 election has reached record levels for a non-presidential primary Spring election, according to statistics compiled by the Wisconsin Election Commission. As of April 1, over 132,000 Wisconsin voters had cast a ballot early or absentee for the Spring election, exceeding the 2018 Spring election’s roughly 107,000 early votes cast.

"It’s simple, voters vote when given the opportunity to vote," said One Wisconsin Institute Executive Director Analiese Eicher. "Expanded hours and satellite locations for early voting are making participating in our elections easier and more convenient, and voters all across Wisconsin are taking advantage of the opportunity in record numbers."

A July 2016 ruling in the federal voting rights lawsuit One Wisconsin Institute, et. al. v. Thomsen, et. al. struck down a number of voter suppression laws adopted by then-Gov. Scott Walker and the Republican-controlled legislature. Judge James Peterson specifically found the GOP imposed limits on early voting were racially discriminatory.

After the ruling, both urban and rural municipalities throughout the state were able to offer the convenience of early voting in the evening, on weekends and at multiple locations at their discretion to meet the needs of voters in their community.

State Republicans subsequently attempted to reimpose early vote restrictions in a lame duck session they convened after losing every statewide office on the ballot in the November 2018 election. In enforcing his earlier decision and enjoining the re-imposition of early voting limits Judge Peterson wrote, "This is not a close question: the three challenged provisions are clearly inconsistent with the injunctions that the court has issued in this case."

Eicher concluded, "Early voting is popular, effective and legal. Now it’s time for the Wisconsin Republicans to drop their efforts to stand in the way of people participating in our democracy and admit it’s also here to stay."
#

Republican Party Aims Threaten Liberty and the Rule of Law

Illustration by Victor Juhasz in Rolling Stone Magazine

Madison, Wisconsin — Researching how metro voting districts, freed from Republican-imposed voting restrictions by a 2016 federal civil rights case, expanded early voting, it's clear non-partisan Wisconsin election officials were concerned Republicans would retaliate against cities and towns for the municipal sin of too many residents voting against Republican candidates for office.

The officials' concern is warranted.

The Republican Party addresses individual political and electoral activity as illegitimate if the outcome is adverse to Republican Party interests — a fundamentally unconstitutional policy scheme in American election law.

Though Republicans were too frightened to impose new voting restrictions before the 2018 general election, Republican legislative leaders planned to and did impose restrictions after the election, in brazen defiance of a United States district judge's injunctions in One Wisconsin.

In a December lame-duck session, Republicans passed new laws as though One Wisconsin were never litigated, and no federal injunctions existed.

Yesterday, the same judge, U.S. District Judge James Peterson, who just 18 months earlier found Republican restrictions on voting rights unconstitutional, made quick work of the Republican Party's legislation in his order and opinion.

The Republican defiance of the federal injunctions was near certain to draw a rebuke from Judge Peterson. It did.

Notes Ed Treleven in the Wisconsin State Journal:

In his order, Peterson wrote that arguments by the state about the dissimilarity between the newly passed law and the limits on in-person absentee voting that Peterson barred were not persuasive.

'If the court accepted defendants’ argument, it would mean that a legislative body could evade an injunction simply by reenacting an identical law and giving it a new number,' he wrote.

Wrote Peterson in his five-page judicial analysis:

This is not a close question: the three challenged provisions are clearly inconsistent with the injunctions that the court has issued in this case (p. 1).

Republican Speaker of the Wisconsin State Assembly, Robin Vos, dismissed the order without reference to Peterson's reasoning.

Reports WISC-TV:

Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos answered a question from News 3 about the ruling while walking down the hallway. He said 'surprise, surprise' that a 'liberal' judge from Dane County would strike down the ruling. He did not elaborate further.

I asked @SpeakerVos about the ruling from a federal judge striking down the limits on early voting as he walked down the hallway at the Capitol.

He said “surprise, surprise” that a “liberal judge from Dane County” would strike down the ruling. #news3

— Rose Schmidt (@RoseSchmidtTV) January 17, 2019

Such dismissive posture that a federal judge is a "liberal" echoes the worst of 1950s desegregation fights in the deep south when southern politicians declared federal judges were illegitimate.

Wisconsin Republicans are betting that four new Trump-appointed judges to the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit—vetted by the Federalist Society to whom Trump outsources vetting of judicial appointments—will ultimately sustain the Republican Party position against voting rights.

The four judges are expected to be hostile to voting rights, and were nominated because of their rightwing jurisprudence and fidelity to the Republican Party.

The Trump-nominated judges are: Amy C. Barrett, Michael B. Brennan, Michael Y. Scudder, Jr., and Amy J. St. Eve.

It's a hell of a gambit.

Wisconsin has a new pro-voting rights attorney general who likely will alter the state's position on federal voting rights litigation.

In the meantime, the Republican Party effectively thumbing their noses at the federal judiciary hearing election law and Constitutional cases does not help the Party's weak case on voting rights.

The stakes are high, and continued Republican defiance of judicial authority should draw some measure of judicial censure and increased public concern.

Wisconsin Republicans' Lame-duck Act Against Voting Struck Down by Federal Judge

Federal judge strikes down Republican-enacted voter
restrictions in Wisconsin

Judge: "This is not a close question"

Madison, Wisconsin — A Republican attempt to obstruct voters in Wisconsin metro districts was struck down today in a terse five-page opinion and order.

The case is ONE WISCONSIN INSTITUTE, INC., CITIZEN ACTION OF WISCONSIN EDUCATION FUND, INC., RENEE M. GAGNER, ANITA JOHNSON, CODY R. NELSON, JENNIFER S. TASSE, SCOTT T. TRINDL, MICHAEL R. WILDER, JOHNNY M. RANDLE, DAVID WALKER, DAVID APONTE, and CASSANDRA M. SILAS,Plaintiffs,v.MARK L. THOMSEN, ANN S. JACOBS, BEVERLY R. GILL, JULIE M. GLANCEY, STEVE KING, DON M. MILLS, MICHAEL HAAS, MARK GOTTLIEB, and KRISTINA BOARDMAN, all in their official capacities.

Reports Patrick Marley in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel:

U.S. District Judge James Peterson concluded the new limits on early voting are invalid because they so closely mirror ones he struck down as unconstitutional in 2016. His decision also threw out parts of the lame-duck laws affecting IDs and other credentials that can be used for voting. 

"Today’s court ruling is a victory for the citizens of Wisconsin and a rebuke to their defeated former governor and his cronies in the state legislature. Every voter in the state should be asking one question: why are Republicans in the Wisconsin legislature so afraid of the people they claim they want to represent? Though we are heartened by this decision we will continue to fight any further efforts designed to undermine democracy in Wisconsin or any other part of our nation," said former United States Attorney General Eric Holder, with the National Redistricting Foundation, a major voting rights group, (Huffington Post).

Wisconsin Republicans have attacked voting rights the last eight years in a sweeping legislative initiative aimed at voters who tend to vote non-Republican.

In 2018, Republicans lost ground in metro voting districts across the state following a sweeping federal court order against its legislative effort, reported Craig Gilbert in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.

Without stopping voters in major population jurisdictions, Republican Party political power in Wisconsin is imperiled.

Concludes U.S. District Judge James Peterson:

Plaintiffs contend that 2017 Wisconsin Act 369, enacted by the Wisconsin legislature in December 2018, violates injunctions issued in this case in 2016. So plaintiffs seek an order enforcing the injunction against three provisions of Act 369:
(1) limits on the time for in-person absentee voting;
(2) restrictions on the use of student identification cards for voting; and
(3) a time  limit  on  the  validity  of temporary  identification  cards issued  under  the  ID  Petition
Process . Dkt. 330. The court will grant plaintiffs’ motion to enforce the injunctions.
This is not  a  close  question:  the  three  challenged  provisions  are  clearly  inconsistent  with
the injunctions that the court  has issued in this case, (p. 1).

Notes Ari Berman in Mother Jones: "This is the second time a federal court has blocked Wisconsin Republicans from cutting early voting in the state."

The 2016 federal litigation is One Wisconsin Institute v. Thomsen, now before a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.

With the election of a new pro-voting rights attorney general and governor, Wisconsin is now in a position to take a rare pro-voting rights stance in federal litigation, a change from the last eight years.

The voting rights win was celebrated by litigators and voting rights workers minutes after the decision was released.

BREAKING: Wisconsin federal court stops GOP effort to restrict voting rights. Big win for the @PerkinsCoieLLP political law team on behalf of @onewisconsinnow and @RedistrictFdn. pic.twitter.com/e81IEJGkw9

— Marc E. Elias (@marceelias) January 17, 2019

Federal judge tosses latest GOP attacks on voting in WI! "The Republican attacks on voting rights were unconstitutional when they were passed, they were unconstitutional when the judge struck them down and they are unconstitutional now.” -- One Wis Now Exec Director Scot Ross

— One Wisconsin Now (@onewisconsinnow) January 17, 2019

Gov Walker's Brazen Defiance of Federal Court Risks Wrath of Judiciary in Wisconsin Voting Rights Case

U.S. Dist Judge James Peterson ruled for voting rights,
and against Republican-enacted voting restrictions
in One Wisconsin Institute v. Thomsen. Peterson's
judgment of Aug 1, 2016, and his judicial authority are
now focal points of open defiance by Wisconsin
legislative Republicans and Gov. Scott Walker (R).

Madison, Wisconsin — Defeated Gov Scott Walker (R) signed sweeping lame-duck legislation aimed at limiting the powers of non-Republican elected officeholders and Wisconsin voters (Wisconsin State Journal, the Capital Times, Associated Press), Wisconsin State Senate, 2018 Dec. Extraordinary Session).

Wisconsin Republicans' hubris, echoing Walker's 2018 dismissal of his affirmative duty to call special elections (Robert Dallas Newton Jr. v. Scott Walker), reveals a pathology that now targets the legitimacy of the federal judiciary in Senate Bill 884, signed by Walker as Wisconsin Act 369.

Beyond its routine foolish reading of the rule of law and the law of the case (One Wisconsin Institute, et al v. Thomsen consolidated with Frank v. Walker), in signing Senate Bill 884, Walker has engaged in legitimatizing legislative effrontery that challenges the authority of United States District Court of the Western District of Wisconsin and the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.

The Wisconsin Republican position: Yes, yes, U.S. Dist Judge James Peterson, you and your appellate-circuit friends get very excited in offering your two cents on election law and One Wisconsin Institute, but we Wisconsin Republicans are very busy here, so run along, now.

As the One Wisconsin Institute (and the National Redistricting Foundation) engage in major federal and state litigation against Wisconsin Act 369 that restricts all Wisconsin early-voting to two weeks before Election Day, Republicans have been silent on the fact that the federal judiciary has already ruled this scheme to be unconstitutional, racially discriminatory and pretextual (misrepresentative in legislative purpose)—high bars to achieve for voting rights advocates.

In One Wisconsin, U.S. District James Peterson ruled much of the Republican transformation of Wisconsin election law and many Republican "arguments for its restrictive voting rules [are] pretexual [misrepresentative], and really aimed at giving Republicans advantage in elections," as noted by Rick Hasen, an election law expert living in California (see Becker, The Capital Times, Mal Contends, One Wisconsin Institute v. Thomsen, Mal Contends, Moritzlaw, Rick Hasen, One Wisconsin Institute v. Thomsen).

Argue the plaintiffs, One Wisconsin Institute and Citizen Action of Wisconsin Education Fund, as noted at Election Law at Moritz:

Count I: Violations of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act
Count II: Undue Burdens on the Right to Vote in Violation of the First Amendment and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment
Count III: Disparate Treatment of Voters without a Rational Basis in Violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment
Count V: Abridgment or Denial of the Right to Vote on the Basis of Race in Violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and Fifteenth Amendment

The One Wisconsin Institute and the National Redistricting Foundation (Eric Holder's group), will soon be making the case for the Constitutional rights of Wisconsin voters in federal litigation to uphold Judge Peterson's prior ruling. Wisconsin Republicans cannot just pretend this case hasn't already been adjudicated.

Wisconsin Republicans

To understand Wisconsin Republicans' psychology, one needs to consider the Party has become so self-entitled and brazenly dishonest, Republican believe, for example, a mere federal judge who issued a pro-voting rights decision in U.S. District Court in 2016 is no impediment to stopping voters who dislodged the Republican anti-voting rights governor and attorney general.

In Republican land the more audacious the lie, the dismissal of established law, and the will of the people, the more Republican self-congratulations.

Republicans can be understood as an underground corporate, Evangelical and white-power movement that seized governmental power with a secret agenda on which it did not campaign, and now schemes to impose its authoritarianism in every corner of government insulated from democratic will and the rule of law.

George Packer calls Republicans a "insurgency" steeped in "institutional depravity" (The Atlantic).

Abe Lincoln called such insurgencies a "conspiracy to seize power" (Nichols, The Nation).

By the way, even as the Republican Party has become an outlaw player in American government, the press still refers to the Party as "conservative," and to voting rights advocates, for example, as "liberal." Absurd. Political writers still cannot drop 'conservative' as a continuing term of description.

In any event, the Republican Party's justification of its voting crackdown, uniformity and fairness, has already been found to not have any rational basis.

We Republicans disagree . . . , is not likely a compelling position to assume in challenging the federal judiciary ruling still being adjudicated in appellate court, during a period when the federal judiciary has grown skittish about the primacy of the rule of law prevailing against executive branch and Party claims of monarchical power.

Scott Walker disagrees of course:

pic.twitter.com/sXcNICpX20

— Scott Walker (@ScottWalker) December 11, 2018

Scott Walker leaves as he governed: with no regard for the wishes of the people of his great state. Totally obedient to the special interests and his party. To lead you have to be bigger than that. https://t.co/3seTUyHsV5

— Eric Holder (@EricHolder) December 14, 2018

When he signed the #WIGOPpowergrab bills, Scott Walker sealed his fate.

The outgoing governor will be remembered only for the harm he has done. And that is the most tragic legacy imaginable for a failed politician. https://t.co/I70xZmLoey

— John Nichols (@NicholsUprising) December 15, 2018

Wisconsin Republicans Want to Close Early Voting Sites for Weeks in Desperate Move to Clamp Down on Voters in Lameduck Session

Federal litigation would likely doom anti-voting measure

Madison, Wisconsin — Wisconsin Republicans are going to consider several anti-voting measures in an extraordinary session of the lameduck legislature, the Wisconsin State Journal reports today.

The anti-voting measures include a proposed clampdown on voting that would effectively shutter early voting sites for weeks.

A similar early voting clampdown was found unconstitutional and "pretextual" (misrepresentative) in the Summer of 2016 in a sweeping opinion in U.S. District Court, One Wisconsin Institute v. Thomsen.

That federal voting rights court case, One Wisconsin Institute v. Thomsen, is now before the full United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, (Marley, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel).

Wisconsin Republicans risk offending some Republican-leaning appellate judges in the Seventh Circuit because Republican justification of consistency is identical to its past justifications of "uniformity," ruled to not serve a rational state purpose by U.S. Dist Judge James Peterson in One Wisconsin.

Also complicating new Republican-enacted restrictions against voting is the election of Democratic Party Attorney General Josh Kaul. 

Republicans are unlikely to prevail in statewide races here if free and fair elections continue in the voter-friendly manner of post-One Wisconsin.

In One Wisconsin a U.S. District judge ruled much of the Republican transformation of Wisconsin election law and many Republican "arguments for its restrictive voting rules [are] pretexual, [misrepresentative], and really aimed at giving Republicans advantage in elections," as noted by Rick Hasen, an election law expert living in California, (see Becker, The Capital Times, Mal Contends, One Wisconsin Institute v. Thomsen, Mal Contends, Moritzlaw, Rick Hasen, One Wisconsin Institute v. Thomsen).

The Seventh Circuit includes four new judges who were nominated by Donald Trump.

The four judges are expected to be hostile to voting rights, and were nominated because of their rightwing jurisprudence and fidelity to the Republican Party.

The Trump-nominated judges are: Amy C. Barrett, Michael B. Brennan, Michael Y. Scudder, Jr., and Amy J. St. Eve.

Bernie Sanders Is Coming to Wisconsin to Save Win Against Scott Walker

Bernie Sanders is coming to Milwaukee on Oct 22 to
rally for voting rights in a community targeted by
Republicans with imprisonment, killing and poverty.

Madison, Wisconsin — After eight years of voter obstruction imposed by Gov. Scott Walker (R) and Republicans, voter turnout in downtown Milwaukee remains a X-factor, likely determining Wisconsin's next governor.

Contributing factors to recent declining Milwaukee turnout include a malfunctioning voting rights community.

The big question is, as early voting picks up, whether progressives can lift and carry the milquetoast Tony Evers (D) to victory.

Bernie Sanders is in town soon to help.

Put an event in your calendar! 🗓️ October 22@BernieSanders is coming to WI for a #EarlyVoting rally with @tammybaldwin @Tony4WI @TheOtherMandela @Gwen4Congress & @IronStache!

RSVP: https://t.co/LYzXNoanK8

— Democratic Party WI (@WisDems) October 10, 2018

Even Tony Evers' campaign concedes voter turnout is critical:

It all comes down to turnout.

With less than one month until Election Day, now is the time to take action! The best way to counter Scott Walker’s attacks, mobilize voters, and take our state back this November is to get involved ➡️ https://t.co/P3HKPJcaEg https://t.co/7poGGObBLS

— Tony Evers (@Tony4WI) October 10, 2018

Wisconsin GOP Ousts Elections Agency Chief—Good Riddance

Michael Haas ousted as Wisconsin elections chief

Madison, Wisconsin—Good news out of Wisconsin as a state bureaucrat, Michael Haas who does not understand the powerful, affirmative right to vote in this state, has been ousted as the state Elections administrator.

The state senate Republicans justified the action by making liberty claims concerning John Doe public integrity probes.

"The Wisconsin Senate voted Tuesday to oust leaders of the bipartisan state agencies charged with running elections and overseeing ethics laws, the latest move by Republicans to exact revenge on anyone connected with a now-closed investigation into Gov. Scott Walker and other conservatives," reports Scott Bauer, (AP).

There is little doubt this act by the Republican-led state senate is an act of political retaliation.

But there is little doubt that the now-defunct John Doe statute was an over-the-top mechanism to probe public integrity crimes.

Even less doubt exists that Haas sees his job as flacking for municipal election clerks who obstruct voting rights, an increasingly common occurrence in Wisconsin.
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A victim of voter obstruction, Mal Contends on Aug 9, 2016, was obstructed from voting for a full 35 minutes on a ridiculous pretext in Fitchburg, Wisconsin.

I have spoken with, and engaged in email conversations with Haas numerous times and the only tangible move from Haas is his suggestion that as an option I vote absentee to avoid hostile poll workers.

I should not have to vote absentee; Haas' suggestion that I vote absentee avoids the question I posed asking why Fitchburg poll workers feel empowered to obstruct voters with whom they have an animus.

Good riddance.

Wisconsin Republicans' Voter Obstruction Looms in 2018 Mid-terms

Republicans talk a good game about the flag,
but when it comes to protecting voting and
the substantive liberties of Americans,
Republicans are a grave threat to democracy.

Urban types have 'too much access to voting,' say Wisconsin Republicans

Madison, Wisconsin—Since 2011 Wisconsin Republicans and only Republicans have transformed election law to benefit Republicans and diminish voters' right to vote.

In U.S. District Court in July 2016, a federal judge, James Peterson, in a sweeping opinion found several Republican-enacted statutory changes to election law pretextual, which is legalese for deceitful and misrepresentative, (One Wisconsin Institute v. Thomsen).

But stopping non-Republican voters from voting is a strategic initiative for Wisconsin Republicans. The urgent and grave threat to democracy is existential. See See Twenty of America's top political scientists gathered to discuss our democracy. They're scared. "If current trends continue for another 20 or 30 years, democracy will be toast."

As the mid-term campaigns for 2018 begin, Republicans know their only chance for victory is to suppress the total vote of non-Republicans, a commitment about which they hold no shame and indeed are proud as it serves to install Republicans against popular opinion.

On The Rachel Maddow Show last night, a segment points to a new analysis on Republicans rigging the Wisconsin 2016 election, a feat to they hope to repeat in 2018, (Berman, Mother Jones).

This is critical reading for citizens concerned about the health of our Republic under attack by the Republican Party.

Notes Berman:

The voter ID law was one of 33 election changes passed in Wisconsin after Walker took office, and it dovetailed with his signature push to dismantle unions, taking away his opponents’ most effective organizing tool. Wisconsin’s Legislature cut early voting from 30 days to 12, reduced early voting hours on nights and weekends, and restricted early voting to one location per county, hampering voters in large urban areas and sprawling rural ones. It also added new residency requirements for voter registration, eliminated staffers who led statewide registration drives, and made it harder to count absentee ballots.

Republicans were explicit about the purposes of these changes as well. On the floor of the state Senate, Grothman said of extended early voting hours in heavily Democratic cities like Madison and Milwaukee, 'I want to nip this in the bud before too many other cities get on board.' (Roughly 514,000 Wisconsinites voted early in 2012; they favored Obama over Mitt Romney by 58 to 41 percent, according to exit polls.) The county clerk of conservative Waukesha County said early voting gave 'too much access' to voters in Milwaukee and Madison. Judge Peterson later ruled the early voting cuts had been passed 'to suppress the reliably Democratic vote of Milwaukee’s African Americans.' 

Republicans will continue their attack against voting in 2018.

A looming target is the city of Madison's effort to offer voting for voters and a continuing effort to educate citizens about their legally strong voting rights, a political and civil crime in Republican-land.

See Madison, Wisconsin Fights Republican Voter Obstruction, and 2017 Spring primary election draws record-breaking early voting in Madison.

From The Rachel Maddow Show:

Wisconsin Voter Obstruction Is as Republican as Racism and Corruption

Fitchburg Wisconsin — Wisconsin is regarded by civil rights workers as the worst state to be black and brown in America.

But not only because most white Republicans work to ship minorities into prisons and segregated sectors in Wisconsin's few urban regions of significant populations.

Blacks are targeted at the polls.

Republicans and only Republicans engineered the transformation of Wisconsin election law in an ambitious project to "disenfranchise voters likely to vote for the political party that does not control the state government," in the words of Judge Richard Posner of the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, in a major voting rights case still being litigated, (Mal Contends, Mal Contends, The Progressive).

Among those likely to vote against the Republican Party are the easily identifiable folks of black and brown skin color.

Though nationally the Republicans' obstructive photo voter ID law garnered wide attention, dozens of party-line statutes have been passed by Republicans since 2011, (Ferral, The Capital Times).

The Republican gerrymandering effort intended to stop non-Republicans from using the polling place to safeguard their interests is one major objective of the Republican anti-voting project, (ScotusBlog,  Election Law).

Obstruct Voters Locally

Other Republican initiatives include white poll workers interrogating voters at the polls, and in an escalation of conspicuous hostility the use of expensive civil citations against voting rights activists: Me.

This Summer Mal Contends will litigate two bogus disorderly conduct civil citations issued by the city of Fitchburg, Wisconsin against me.

One citation was written on August 9, 2016, Fall Primary Election Day. This citation will be argued in front of a jury this Summer in Dane County Circuit Court.

A second citation was written on May 10, 2017 alleging even more misconduct on Aug. 9, 2016 and served seconds after the litigation of the first citation in Municipal Court resulted in a judicial ruling of no fine. The presiding Municipal Judge, Hamdy Ezalarab, recused himself from hearing the second citation which will heard at trial on Aug. 3 at 6:00 p.m by a substitute judge

The Fitchburg City Attorney's office, Mark R Sewell and Valerie A. Zisman, is engaged in misconduct and malicious prosecutions, among other violations of ethics which I will pursue in the future.

Stay posted. This may appear light stuff from a small, corrupt Wisconsin city. It's not light stuff. From an email sent by me to the Wisconsin Elections Commission on Aug. 5, 2016, four days before I was obstructed from voting on Aug 9, received the first two of four visits to our home by armed Fitchburg Police, and received the first of now two civil disorderly conduct citations:

From: Mike Leon [ ...]
Sent: Friday, August 05, 2016 8:42 AM
To: Lowe, Diane - ELECTIONS
Subject: Polling Place
Importance: High

Diane,

Could you email me a URL or GAB (WEC) memo that would indicate how many election inspectors are supposed to hand out ballots at a table in a polling place? I believe it to be two.

A ... chief election inspector in our polling place, where I worked on April 5, positioned one election inspector at the ballots table, and predictably quite a voter bottleneck ensued.

Other elections to my memory featured two inspectors on ballots.

I need a memo or other publicly available authority on this two-people-on-ballots question.

I emailed our election and city clerk, around late April on this but no one got back to me. They are not too crazy about questions RE what they regard as their apparent turf, though I believe myself as a resident and long-time election inspector to be a stakeholder.

Administering elections should be about rules and regulations, to my view.

Mike
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Voting Rights Battle in Fitchburg, Wisc; Pursuit of Poll Worker, Civil Rights Activist Proceeds

Fitchburg, Wisconsin Municipal Judge
Hamdy Ezalarab is a popular figure on the
 bench in Dane County, Wisconsin.
Photo is from 1969,
(Schmidt, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Memorial Union TerraceViews)

Fitchburg, Wisconsin — Who knew advocating for voters would provoke the wrath of a handful of white bureaucrats of a small Wisconsin suburb?

If you knew Fitchburg aldermanic district number one like I do, you would know.

I've worked roughly 10 years as a poll worker in Fitchburg, Wisconsin, and voted at the same polling place for some 18 years.

Fitchburg is heavily segregated, stained by open racism, and my voting district's poll workers include a handful of white racists who loathe me, I calculate, roughly to the degree I regard them as miserable, xenophobic and deceitful.

The all-white Fitchburg City Clerk's office backs the racists, fervently.

On August 9, 2016, I was obstructed from voting by this group, and after I objected, citing election law and election authorities, I received a civil citation for disorderly conduct.

Why did this happen? The full context is I regularly embarrassed the City Clerk's office by pointing out defects in the operation of my polling place. I'll get specific in Dane County, (Wisconsin), Circuit Court.

The United States and Wisconsin Constitutions and state election law are diminishing under the white-power banner predominating among this small number of racists in our city.

On May 10, 2017, Fitchburg Municipal Court, (a fine, municipal judge), found me guilty of the civil citation, ordering no fine. No fine.

Clearly, I will avail myself of a jury trial in Dane County Circuit Court and appeal this bogus citation.

Not easy to hear racists, whom I explained are the "White Power Caucus," lie repeatedly in open court but at trial I followed advice of friends and more or less went along with a few objections.

I will prevail in Dane County Court in front of a jury, Dane County Circuit Court is a different forum.

Of note, before defamations from the City Clerk's office were ruled inadmissible, the City Attorney's office in the person of one asst. City Attorney Valerie Zisman, threatened in a conference in the hall to write a new citation for August 9, 2016, which is precisely what happened after court adjourned.

I am confident.

Now, however, I have two disorderly conduct citations, one going to Dane County Court, and the new citation in limbo for now.

The second citation was indicated by the City Atty's office in court, to which the judge replied, not in my court. The judge also stated, he was finished with the citation and the matter was closed, stating he had enough, (not a direct quote).

Stay posted. This may appear light stuff from a small, corrupt Wisconsin city. It's not light stuff. From an email sent by me to the Wisconsin Elections Commission on Aug. 5, 2016, four days before I was obstructed from voting on Aug 9, received the first two of four visits to our home by armed Fitchburg Police, and received the first of now two civil disorderly conduct citations:

From: Mike Leon [ ...]
Sent: Friday, August 05, 2016 8:42 AM
To: Lowe, Diane - ELECTIONS
Subject: Polling Place
Importance: High

Diane,

Could you email me a URL or GAB (WEC) memo that would indicate how many election inspectors are supposed to hand out ballots at a table in a polling place? I believe it to be two.

A ... chief election inspector in our polling place, where I worked on April 5, positioned one election inspector at the ballots table, and predictably quite a voter bottleneck ensued.

Other elections to my memory featured two inspectors on ballots.

I need a memo or other publicly available authority on this two-people-on-ballots question.

I emailed our election and city clerk, around late April on this but no one got back to me. They are not too crazy about questions RE what they regard as their apparent turf, though I believe myself as a resident and long-time election inspector to be a stakeholder.

Administering elections should be about rules and regulations, to my view.

Mike
--
More to come. Much more.

Wisconsin Republicans' Voter-Suppression Project Stopped 10,000s in 2016

Human Being, Gladys Harris of Milwaukee,
stopped by Wisconsin Republicans
from voting in 2016. From photo by
 Carrie Antlfinger, Associated Press.

2,976,150 Votes Is Less than 3,068,434 Votes
- "They prevented us from voting," says human being.

Update - See Berman, The Nation.
Fitchburg, Wisconsin — When Wisconsin Republicans began their massive voter-suppression project in 2011, mandating a new voting qualification in photo voter IDs, the prospect made Republicans "giddy," noted a staffer, Todd Allbaugh, present at a Republican Party caucus, (Marley, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Sommerhauser, Wisconsin State Journal).

Associated Press writers, Christina A. Cassidy, Ivan Moreno, have a piece out showing Wisconsin Republicans' transformation of election law yielded significant results in stopping people from voting, lowering the total vote in Milwaukee and statewide, (Wisconsin State Journal). [See also Mal Contends, Mal Contends, Chris Carson and Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel).

"Overall, nearly 3 million people in Wisconsin voted last November, about 91,000 fewer than in 2012. Milwaukee, a power center for Democrats, reported that 41,000 fewer people voted there than in 2012," note Cassidy and Moreno.

The 41,000 voting decrease in Milwaukee alone, where "urban" types reside as noted by Rep. Paul Ryan in 2012, nearly doubles Donald Trump's 2016 victory margin of some 22,000 votes.

In 2012, some 3,068,434 votes were cast for president in Wisconsin. In 2016, this figure is 2,976,150 votes.

The Republican voter suppression project, not often acknowledged, extends to the polling place where voters are harassed in a corruption of the voting process.

Fitchburg, Wisconsin

Today, at 5:00 p.m. (Central), this writer, a Wisconsin voter and a current, 11-year election inspector, will attend the Fitchburg, Wisconsin Municipal Court to challenge a bogus civil citation for disorderly conduct, issued in retaliation for years of sticking up for voters obstructed and harassed in Fitchburg, Wisconsin, an increasingly racist and toxic city of some 25,000 people.

I urge you to attend the proceeding, or view on on of these Charter Communication cable channels: Fitchburg City Channel 985, Fitchburg City Channel 986, or Fitchburg Access Community TV, (FACT) Channel 987, as possible.

A small number of white citizens in Fitchburg, Wisconsin aspires the community to become a white-dominated police state, and is making consequential strikes.

ACI Info Group Writer Remains Target of Fitchburg, Wisc Republicans

Update: State and municipal corruption now have a free hand in Wisconsin.

Wisconsin Ethics Commission, a titular election watchdog, member, Robert Kinney has resigned in disgust.

Reports Jason Stein: "Kinney said that in a private session the commission has already declined to take action on a complaint that he believed merited it."

"If financial or ethical improprieties are leveled, or allegations of quid pro quo corruption are made, they must be thoroughly and timely investigated, and, if warranted, aggressively prosecuted. Sadly, it appears we have created a system which almost guarantees that this will not occur," Kinney said in a statement Monday (Stein, MJS), (Capitol Newspapers).
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Nearing the age of Donald Trump, some local Wisconsin municipalities cannot wait to get started.

Following is a first-person saga chronicling a small Wisconsin city targeting a nine-year veteran poll worker, writer, PR Specialist and voting rights activist.

Harassed as a poll worker, several Fitchburg, Wisconsin Republicans, fundamentalist Christians, and white racists decided to obstruct and harass this now-former poll worker, me, at the polling place in the Fall Primary election, now held in August.

The crusade continues as a Fitchburg poll worker is now violating Wisconsin's voter-privacy guarantees in his bizarre pursuit of this voter.

Silence emits from City Hall officials who have failed to respond to numerous requests for investigation and comment.

Fitchburg Election Inspector Ron Johnson has now taken his crusade against me from the polling place to content at my ICI Info Group site, Mal Contends, to now the Fitchburg Star, (Woodward Communications).

State law and ethics prevents official such as poll workers from acting officially in a matter in which s/he is privately interested.

From an email sent this morning to Fitchburg City Clerk and asst City Clerk:

... It would appear that Ron Johnson feels secure in his reading of Wisconsin election law that he as an election inspector is relieved of his duties to help administer impartial elections free of hostile and discriminatory conduct, and an election inspector's duty to protect the privacy of voter, (in this instance, me).

Ron Johnson's defamatory editorial comment in the Star chronicles this voter's personalized voting experience on August 9. Ron Johnson violates my right to cast a ballot privately in Wisconsin, (Wisconsin Elections Commission).

Putting aside the defamations and inaccuracies in Ron Johnson's letter to the editor Ron Johnson offers his version of the voter-obstruction incident in a step-by-step chronicle that identifies me as a voter, describes my specific and personalized issues I experienced on Aug 9, and concludes with a chronicling of Johnson's attempt in August to comment at this site.

To understand this appeal to my privacy in this matter, consider scenarios when a voter enters a polling site and experiences an issue such a spoiled ballot, a 30-minte delay in voting, or the use of a disability apparatus. Now, consider Ron Johnson working a poll worker and publishing a personalized narrative of the voters' experience using this voter's name, replete with invective in these instances. This conduct violates privacy expectations, and is pernicious activity committed by a Fitchburg election official.

This conduct does as well casts light on the state of mind and attitudes of some Fitchburg election inspectors towards another former election inspector and voter who writes disfavored political analyses and commentary syndicated through Newxtex, (now ACI Information Group), and client periodicals.

I suggest you contact the City Atty's office, (Cced), as well consider SCR 946.12(3), Misconduct in public office.

With respect to election inspector Ron Johnson's conduct in the attached letter, I expect a reply detailing the scope of your investigation, the protocols of this investigation, and the resolution of Ron Johnson's conduct, including specifically whether Ron Johnson will not be on the roster of election inspectors working in 2017.

Frankly, I want a resolution of these matters, though some in City Hall and those retained as election inspectors have quite different aspirations.

I have copied some text Re SCR 946.12(3)

946.12 Misconduct in public office.

(1) Intentionally fails or refuses to perform a known mandatory, nondiscretionary, ministerial duty of the officer's or employee's office or employment within the time or in the manner required by law; or

(2) In the officer's or employee's capacity as such officer or employee, does an act which the officer or employee knows is in excess of the officer's or employee's lawful authority or which the officer or employee knows the officer or employee is forbidden by law to do in the officer's or employee's official capacity; or

(3) Whether by act of commission or omission, in the officer's or employee's capacity as such officer or employee exercises a discretionary power in a manner inconsistent with the duties of the officer's or employee's office or employment or the rights of others and with intent to obtain a dishonest advantage for the officer or employee or another; or

(4) In the officer's or employee's capacity as such officer or employee, makes an entry in an account or record book or return, certificate, report or statement which in a material respect the officer or employee intentionally falsifies; or

(5) Under color of the officer's or employee's office or employment, intentionally solicits or accepts for the performance of any service or duty anything of value which the officer or employee knows is greater or less than is fixed by law.

I would note as well that Johnson's continuing conduct buttresses contemplation of investigation of abuse-of-process questions.


Mike Leon

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Fitchburg, Wisc Poll Worker Violates Voter Privacy with Letter, Following Voter Obstruction

Fitchburg Star column in November 2016 issue. Column is
written by Michael Leon, a writer and resident living in Fitchburg,
Wisconsin.

Anatomy of Harassment from Pernicious Poll Workers

Update: A reader asked, "What's Ron Johnson's deal?" Ron, The Racist, Johnson's deal is he is feigning a causal interest in this matter, after participating in a ridiculous voter-obstruction incident on Aug. 9. Ron left a message, (a comment), at this site in August, and is now following my work in different periodicals, leaving behind defamatory commentary. Ron really, really is interested in stopping voter fraud, so interested he lies about this voting-rights activist.
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Fitchburg, Wisconsin — Ron Johnson is a veteran Fitchburg poll worker who has long-championed Wisconsin's obstructionist photo voter ID law intended to hinder the disfavored people from casting their preference at the voting booth.

Johnson has numerous like-minded colleagues on the Fitchburg election inspector roster.

Johnson, and three other white poll workers, personally obstructed this writer at the polling station on August 9, as chronicled in subsequent communications by me to the Dane County District Attorney's office and the Wisconsin Elections Commission.

Unfortunately for me, Ron Johnson is an escalating racist as indicated in Johnson's official conduct as a Fitchburg poll worker. Johnson's status as a white and racist poll worker is not frowned upon by Fitchburg City Hall election officials, and complaints of harassment and discrimination are routinely ignored. I can verify these dynamics as a nine-year sworn Fitchburg election inspector.

Now, Johnson has taken to this site, and the Fitchburg Star, (Woodward Communications), to violate this voter's privacy at the polling place in defamatory editorial comment that chronicles this voter's personalized voting experience on August 9, violating my right to cast a ballot privately in Wisconsin, (Wisconsin Elections Commission).

Wisconsin election officials have a duty to administering elections in a fair, impartial manner that ensures voter privacy.

Ron Johnson didn't get that memo about voters' privacy.

In a letter to the Fitchburg Star, Johnson responds to this writer's column, (column reproduced above-right and below), challenging the racial animus in Fitchburg culture and Fitchburg City Hall. In my Star column I specifically cite the "sacrosanct nature of the booth" vis a vis incursions by Fitchburg election officials.

Putting aside the defamations and inaccuracies in Johnson's letter to the editor, Johnson offers his version of the voter-obstruction incident in a step-by-step chronicle that identifies me as a voter, describes my specific and personalized issues I experienced on Aug 9, and concludes with a chronicling of Johnson's attempt in August to comment at this site. (This site does not run defamations by racists in comments.)

To understand this appeal to privacy in this matter, consider scenarios when a voter enters a polling site and experiences an issue such a spoiled ballot, a 30-minte delay in voting, or the use of a disability apparatus. Now, consider Ron Johnson working a poll worker and publishing a personalized narrative of the voter's experience using this voter's name, replete with invective. This conduct violates privacy expectations, and is pernicious activity committed by a Fitchburg election official.

This conduct does, however, casts light on the state of mind and attitudes of some Fitchburg poll workers towards another poll worker and voter who writes disfavored political analyses and commentary in Newxtex, (now ACI Information Group), and client periodicals.

Am meeting with Fitchburg City Attorney next week, though I am pessimistic with respect to outcomes as racial animus appears to the official and unchallenged policy of Fitchburg City Hall.

Stay tuned.

Above is Fitchburg Star column in November 2016 issue. Column is
written by Michael Leon, a writer and resident living in Fitchburg, Wisconsin.

Scale of Voting Obstruction Project Is Not Acknowledged

Consider Wisconsin election law and the failure and refusal of elected representatives, bureaucrats, corporate press and most of the judiciary to note the intent behind unconstitutional voter obstruction, beyond passing comment. The voting rights community is small and its prospects are not heartening.

On the racist, voter obstructionist side, we have Wisconsin Republicans.

Wisconsin Republicans, and only Republicans, crafted the transformation of Wisconsin election law since they assumed elected office in 2011. This is a fact of Wisconsin public policy, and is noted in the July 2016 opinion in the voting rights case, One Wisconsin Institute v. Thomsen (U.S. District Court of the Western District of Wisconsin (Case 15-cv-324)). (Worth noting, as well, is Judge James T. Peterson's silly and polemical characterization of Republican-enacted election law changes as "election reforms." [See page 8. "Since [2011], Wisconsin has implemented a series of election reforms. These laws covered almost every aspect of voting: registration, absentee voting, photo identification, and election-day mechanics." What's Peterson going to do later when the Republican-enacted photo voter ID is further litigated, adopt the Republican Hans von Spakovsky, and John Fund's talking point, 'Easy to vote, hard to cheat,' as his own? (Mal Contends) (Mal Contends).])

Peterson's bending over to find no fault with Wisconsin Republican motives in his One Wisconsin opinion, [Peterson found some fault], ignores both the intent and the effect of Republicans' work to block voters. Republicans stopped 10,000s of voters living in the black sectors of Milwaukee from voting so mission accomplished in election 2016, but with not enough help from Peterson protecting voters.

Effect of Republican Voter Obstruction Laws

Election law scholars, Lawrence Tribe, Ned Foley, Rich Hasan and Chris Carson, weigh in on the question of obstruction effect on voters this week.

A citizen's right and ability to vote is worth considering under the assumption that the political appointees, federal judges like Peterson, are political animals, and upon assumption to the bench do not suddenly become dispassionate Constitutional geniuses. Federal judges most often can be best understand as politicians in robes, and as such write opinions that are politic. Broadly so legal-political commentary and analysis written by politicians have he same defect.

Very rarely will readers find in the judiciary or the academy a finding of fact that Wisconsin Republicans for example, and only Republicans, craft law after law to obstruct the vote, and use new election laws to administer elections in an unconstitutional fashion.

I've yet to find widespread note that Wisconsin Republicans' legislative objective is to frustrate, aggravate, and obstruct as many minority, young and disabled voters as possible in an effort to suppress the total vote in favor of the Republican Party, (Mal Contends).

It should not be surprising that Lawrence Tribe's comment on voter obstruction has been met with widespread hostile commentary. Tribe writes, "Call it what you like, but the # of voters turned away for not having required forms of ID exceeded margin of T’s victory in MI, Pa and Wis."

It takes a major social-scientific investigation to quantify the phenomenon of voter obstruction, because protecting voting just is not in the cards of American political culture. But Tribe is certainly correct from data in the Milwaukee black and brown areas alone.

Wisconsin Republicans have since 2011 worked to transform every corner of government into Republican operations, (Mal Contends) (Mal Contends).

One of the first Republican-enacted changes to with respect to the adminstration of Wisconsin election law was the Republicans' concerted effort in 2011 to staff 3,500 polling places with Republican partisans, to further the objective of obstructing the vote of undesirables.

The lack of acknowledgement and challenge to this Republican attack on the foundation of American democracy should send chills through the political world. I don't believe this is the case, and we should all thank Lawrence Tribe and Chris Carson for noting the scale of the Republican voting obstruction project.

Who are the Republicans staffing your local polling place? Ask your local municipal clerk to find out. Tape record the conversation, the recording may come in handy.

In the meantime, check out the conversation in Ned Foley and Rich Hasan's sites. A great conversation, but one which omits the prospects for voting for 10,000s of black and brown Americans.

RNC Coordination with Election Officials in Voter Supression Is Hit

Just a matter of time before municipal and state election bureaucrats are implicated in Republican-enacted voter obstruction schemes.

For now the light is on poll observers.

A logical line of investigation leads to Republican Party-named election officials as anecdotal evidence of suppression is complied.

Rachel Maddow offers a summary of recent developments.

Wisconsin Dems Urge DoJ to Assist in Overseeing Wisconsin’s Elections

Wild guess. I'm betting no Wisconsin Republican will join the Democratic Party's Wisconsin congressional delegation in calling for protecting the liberty of voters.
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WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Mark Pocan (D-WI), along with Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Reps. Ron Kind (D-WI) and Rep. Gwen Moore (D-WI), sent a letter to the Department of Justice requesting assistance in overseeing Wisconsin’s monitoring of the election, including providing poll-monitoring services in the state. The request was spurred by Wisconsin’s contentious and discriminatory Voter ID Law and a political environment that has become increasingly intimidating for voters.

“We have continued to see how Wisconsin’s voter ID law puts the franchise of many Wisconsinites, particularly people of color, in real jeopardy,” the Members of Congress write.

“Given the flawed efforts thus far by state officials to properly implement this law, with proof of demonstrably false information having been disseminated to voters just days before the election, we fear that irreparable harm may result—particularly to voters of color, who disproportionately bear the brunt of these policies and any Election Day intimidation efforts. We ask the Department to provide any resources or assistance it can in order to help our state navigate these unsettling circumstances.”

The full text of the letter is below and a signed copy can be found here.

Dear Attorney General Lynch,

As you are aware, Wisconsin, which we represent, is among 14 states that have adopted new voter restrictions in advance of the November 8th election. The state’s 2011 voter identification law, one of the strictest in the country, has been repeatedly challenged in federal court due to its discriminatory effects on vulnerable populations’ voting rights. Due to the law’s contentious nature and poor implementation, coupled with a political environment that is becoming increasingly intimidating, we are requesting the Department of Justice’s assistance in overseeing the state’s monitoring of the election, including by providing poll-monitoring services in Wisconsin.

In 2014, a U.S. district court noted that more than 300,000 Wisconsinites lacked the newly requisite form of identification, and that this population disproportionately included persons of color. Judge Lynn Adelman further observed that state officials “could not point to a single instance of known voter impersonation occurring in Wisconsin at any time in the recent past,” casting serious doubt on the official rationale for the policy.

A second federal court determined earlier this summer that even the “safety net” built into the law to help voters who have trouble obtaining ID was a “wretched failure” that “disenfranchised citizens” who are “overwhelmingly African American and Latino.”

Deeming the provision unconstitutional, Judge James Peterson mandated changes in practice and public education to ensure that that process better serves all Wisconsinites with documentation challenges in obtaining identification so they can vote. Concurring with Judge Adelman, Judge Peterson also expressed “misgivings about whether the law actually promotes confidence and integrity,” and observed that prior to 2011, “Wisconsin had an exemplary election system that produced high levels of voter participation without significant irregularities.”

Unfortunately, since that court order in late July, we have continued to see how Wisconsin’s voter ID law puts the franchise of many Wisconsinites, particularly people of color, in real jeopardy. Over the last month, press reports have revealed that on numerous occasions, Wisconsin Department of Motor Vehicle employees provided erroneous and incomplete information to potential voters who are unable to obtain IDs due to a lack of required documentation (like a birth certificate), despite their eligibility for alternative credentials.

These revelations led Judge Peterson to remark on October 12, “I'm very disappointed to see that the state really did nothing in response to my order,” noting that voters are “at the mercy of the DMV, and its staff wasn't trained well enough to guide people through it.” We are deeply troubled by the prospect of such misinformation contributing to voter disenfranchisement in this election. While further scrutiny by the federal court has prompted state officials to institute additional training and public education efforts at the DMV, there is entirely too much at stake in the limited time left before the election to let this continue without additional oversight.

In addition to misinformation, we are also concerned about potential voter intimidation at the polling places, particularly in light of recent, high-profile rhetoric that alleges “election rigging.” National figures have suggested that there is widespread voter fraud in our country and have encouraged private citizens to monitor the voting behaviors of certain communities for potential misconduct.

Given the flawed efforts thus far by state officials to properly implement this law, with proof of demonstrably false information having been disseminated to voters just days before the election, we fear that irreparable harm may result—particularly to voters of color, who disproportionately bear the brunt of these policies and any Election Day intimidation efforts.

We ask the Department to provide any resources or assistance it can in order to help our state navigate these unsettling circumstances. For example, the Department has historically provided poll monitors on Election Day to help ensure that all eligible voters will be permitted to register and exercise their fundamental right to participate in our democracy. We therefore urge the Department of Justice to utilize any available election monitoring resources to ensure voters in Wisconsin are able to safely access the polls.

The right to elect our public representatives is unrivaled in its importance to a fully functioning democracy. 

With few days remaining until the election, it is imperative that we do everything in our power to limit the amount of harm caused to our state’s voters.

Thank you for your consideration of this request and for the Department of Justice’s ongoing efforts to ensure the fairness of all elections in our country.
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