Republican Stop-Voters Project Puts Racism on Display

Update: "Over 10,000 absentee ballots were dropped off with poll workers stationed at parks throughout Madison Saturday, and hundreds registered to vote during a first-time event called Democracy in the Park," reports The Capital Times.

Madison, Wisconsin — The Republican Party reaction to the Democracy in the Park initiative is telling.

Democracy in the Park is a City ballots event here that for two consecutive Sept-Oct Saturdays allows voters to drop off ballots at over 200 secure locations sited in City parks, and staffed by sworn election officials in blaze vests.

Madison residents can also get their absentee ballots witnessed, and can register to vote there, though they cannot obtain ballots in the manner of a polling place.

Wisconsin Republicans and rightwingers across the nation responding to news of last Saturday's Democracy in the Park were incensed.

"It’s going to take six months to unravel the Democrat fraud in this election," writes Republican actor James Woods.

Woods did not cite one instance of fraud, but to a Republican a black or brown person voting is an act of fraud in itself, as black or brown citizens are impersonating regular folks.

This is the fight of the modern Civil Rights movement playing out again, and it's a losing battle for Republicans and any Democrat who shies away from this fight.

People with black hair and dark skin are normal folks. But in Wisconsin, in Fitchburg alder District One, and among Republicans, this fact is under hysterical dispute.

Next Saturday is the second Democracy in the Park. 

News is after the first event, Madisonians may have gone too far: A statement from the City Clerk reads that the Madison Fire Dept washed the poll-workers' vests.

It's an outrage, call the police!

A big thank you to @MadisonWIFire for washing our poll worker high visibility vests this week! And thank you to the @CityofMadison City Assessor and Fleet Service Superintendent for also offering to help with this big task! #TeamCity pic.twitter.com/pdlpCG6Q8Q

— Madison WI Clerk (@MadisonWIClerk) September 27, 2020

I have worked as a poll worker in Madison and journalist covering the Madison commitment to allow voters to cast ballots and have ballots counted.

White rightwingers will, seriously, call the police on pro-voting activity. 

I have seen this racism and experienced it personally on multiple occasions.

The wrong people voting is a phenomenon white racists will never accept.

"The threat that this procedure poses to ballot integrity is manifestly obvious,' writes Misha Tseytlin, former Republican Wisconsin Solicitor General, on behalf of Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, (R-Juneau), and Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, (R-Rochester).

The Madison City Attorney responded to Republicans in a two-page letter which makes quick work of the unsupported allegations. The City letter dated Sept 26, 2020 is reproduced below:

September 26, 2020

Dear Misha:

I am responding to your letter to Madison City Clerk Maribeth Witzel-Behl regarding the City’s Democracy in the Park event being held this weekend to facilitate voter registration and the legal return and collection of absentee ballots.

Your letter states that this event constitutes an “illegal collection of ballots” and “falls outside lawful categories” but you provide absolutely no legal support for that allegation. You simply cite statutes that outline the process for absentee voting. If you could please identify a statute that you believe is being violated, I could try to respond to your broad unsupported allegations.

You also state that the threat to ballot integrity is manifestly obvious. The procedures that the City Clerk has established to secure ballots are equivalent to the procedures used to secure all absentee ballots, which your clients have helped to establish in Wisconsin Statutes and found to be acceptable. Sworn election officials will retrieve ballots that have already been issued and will ensure that ballots are properly witnessed and are secured in sealed in absentee ballot envelopes and ballot containers with tamper-evident seals, to be tabulated on Election Day. The election officials will maintain a chain of custody log that is open to public inspection. No new ballots will be issued in the parks.

As you know, both major political parties are able to nominate election officials to work at polling places. The City of Madison invited election officials nominated by both the Republican and Democratic Parties to work at Democracy in the Park, and received no complaints or concerns regarding the procedures to be used from those officials.

You also state that there is no justification for this “ad hoc, unsecure and unlawful approach.” Clearly this event is neither unsecure nor unlawful or you would have cited a relevant prohibition. And the definition of “ad hoc” is “for this purpose only.” The justification to sponsor this event “for this purpose only” is that COVID-19 has placed significant pressure on both voters and election officials to facilitate as much voting as possible prior to Election Day. Governmental leaders from both political parties have
acknowledged this reality and encouraged voters to submit ballots early. In addition, the well-publicized challenges of the U.S. Postal Service have diminished the public’s trust in that agency to deliver ballots in a timely and transparent manner.

Your letter states that there is a “grave risk” that all of the ballots collected at Democracy in the Park will be challenged in court and ultimately invalidated. You cite Wis. Stat. § 6.93 in support of this statement. That statute states that absentee ballots may be challenged for cause. The administrative rules implementing that statute establish specific reasons for challenging a voter when the challenger has first-hand knowledge to suspect that the voter is not a qualified elector because 1) the person is not a citizen of the United States; 2) the person is not at least 18 years of age; 3) the person has not resided in the election district for at least 10 days; 4) the person has a felony conviction and has not been restored to civil rights; 5) the person has been adjudicated incompetent; or 6) the person has voted previously in the same election. See EL §§ 9.01 and 9.02, Wis. Adm. Code.

The allowable reasons do not include that the challenger does not like the manner in which an absentee ballot is returned. Any elector who abuses the right to challenge may be subject to sanctions under Wis. Stat. §7.41(3). EL § 9.02, Wis. Adm. Code. Given these provisions, I do not understand why you believe Wis. Stat. § 6.93 supports your threat that all ballots collected at Democracy in the Park are subject to challenge. If you have some legal basis for that statement, please share it so that the City can address your concern before the election and resolve any confusion that your allegations have caused. If there is
no legal basis, we request that you retract your letter to Clerk Witzel-Behl.

Absent any directive from the Wisconsin Elections Commission or a court, the City will proceed with Democracy in the Park, and it will process the ballots collected with other absentee ballots pursuant to Wisconsin Statutes. All voters are welcome to participate and observe the process which is designed to bring the entire community together to participate in democracy. I trust that is a goal you and your clients can support.

Finally, I invite you and your clients to pick up the phone and contact me or the City Clerk if you have additional questions or concerns about the manner in which the City of Madison conducts elections. I am glad to discuss your questions directly so that we can alleviate any concerns you and your clients may have, rather than having to obtain your letter from the media. This tactic demeans the seriousness of your allegations and signals a desire to simply discourage participation by voters in Madison.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Michael Haas
City Attorney

Wisconsin Republicans: Cease and Desist Voting in Madison Now

Updated: Madison, Wisconsin — Republicans are angry at a City of Madison effort to help voters cast their ballots.

Voters will be able drop off their absentee ballots, have their ballots witnessed and register to vote at one of over 200 City parks in a City initiative called "Democracy in the Park," held on Sept 26 and Oct 3.

Writes the Madison City Clerk:

Democracy in the Park: created by, planned by, staffed by, and paid for by the @CityofMadison Clerk’s Officehttps://t.co/1hyEAzhX2I#MadisonVotes2020 #VoteByMail #vote #elections2020 pic.twitter.com/TWRbdyk00p

— Madison WI Clerk (@MadisonWIClerk) September 25, 2020

The problem for Republicans is many of the voters at Democracy in the Park events are likely to include the wrong kind of voters — black, brown and young voters — the very people whom Republicans have worked to stop from casting votes.

The ballot drop-off sites also have the effect of alleviating the burden of delivering a voluminous number of ballots through the mail, an effect which would be beneficial to voters.

The City of Madison will not discriminate on the basis of race, ethnicity, political orientation and age, and such non-discriminatory administration is an electoral problem for the Republican Party that relies on discrimination and gerrymandering to win elections.

Most voters of varied race and ethnicity live close to City parks.

Reports Elizabeth Beyer in the Wisconsin State Journal:

The state’s two most powerful Republican lawmakers sent a cease-and-desist letter to the Madison City Clerk’s Office on Friday ahead of a ballot collection event to be held in city parks Saturday, calling the effort 'illegal' and warning the ballots would be challenged in court and potentially invalidated.

'The threat that this procedure poses to ballot integrity is manifestly obvious,' Misha Tseytlin, former state solicitor general, wrote on behalf of Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, and Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester.

The Madison City Attorney responded to Republicans in a two-page letter which made quick work of the unsupported allegations. Reads the City letter in part:

I am responding to your letter to Madison City Clerk Maribeth Witzel-Behl regarding the City’s Democracy in the Park event being held this weekend to facilitate voter registration and the legal return and collection of absentee ballots. 

Your letter states that this event constitutes an 'illegal collection of ballots' and 'falls outside lawful categories' but you provide absolutely no legal support for that allegation.  You simply cite statutes that outline the process for absentee voting.  If you could please identify a statute that you believe is being violated, I could try to respond to your broad unsupported allegations. 

You also state that the threat to ballot integrity is manifestly obvious.  The procedures that the City Clerk has established to secure ballots are equivalent to the procedures used to secure all absentee ballots, which your clients have helped to establish in Wisconsin Statutes and found to be acceptable.  Sworn election officials will retrieve ballots that have already been issued and will ensure that ballots are properly witnessed and are secured in sealed in absentee ballot envelopes and ballot containers with tamper-evident seals, to be tabulated on Election Day.  The election officials will maintain a chain of custody log that is open to public inspection. No new ballots will be issued in the parks.

Sworn City election inspectors collecting ballots at official drop-off sites will not discriminate against voters, per training, sworn documentation and adherence to large body of state, federal and Constitutional law.
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In other voting news in Dane County Wisconsin, the Fitchburg Common Council passed a resolution 6-2 this week that moves a polling site to a more inclusive and accessible place in the notorious anti-voting rights Dist One, a polling place marked by open racism from white Fitchburg polling workers.

Alds Dorothy Krause and Joe Maldonado and Gabriella Gerhardt worked against anti-voting rights forces all year to accomplish this objective of helping voters cast their ballots.
---

 

A statement from Madison City Clerk Maribeth Witzel-Behl is reproduced below:

Statement of Madison City Clerk Maribeth Witzel-Behl Regarding Democracy in the Park

Friday, September 25, 2020 - 3:29pm

Democracy in the Park is an event created by, planned by, staffed by, and paid for by the City Clerk’s Office.  This event will simply make it easier for residents who have received their requested absentee ballot to drop it off in person.

This is not in-person absentee voting. Poll workers will not be able to issue anyone a ballot at the park. The only way to receive a ballot right now is through the mail. In-person absentee voting begins October 20, and voters will be able to receive and cast an absentee ballot at any of our absentee voting sites at that time.

The poll workers in each City park tomorrow have taken an oath of office. They are the same dedicated public servants who administer elections at your polling place on Election Day.

Absentee voting by mail is underway. Voters may return their absentee ballots by mail, or in person. Our ballot drop boxes are still on order, and voters have been requesting a location close to home where they can deliver their ballot.

By having poll workers receive the delivery of the absentee ballot, we are able to double-check that the voter has completed the certificate envelope so the ballot can be counted at the polls on Election Day.

Voters who want a poll worker to serve as their absentee witness need to bring their ballot and envelope from home, show the blank ballot to the poll worker, mark the ballot in a way that the poll worker cannot see how they are voting, and then seal the ballot in the envelope they received in the mail.

The City Clerk’s Office is non-partisan. Regardless of who people vote for, our goal is that each eligible voter will be able to cast a ballot and have that ballot counted.

Republican Voter Obstruction Is Firewall Against Americans

Wisconsin metro voting officials are coming to
the rescue of voters targeted by Republicans.

Madison, Wisconsin — Republicans nationwide are working feverishly against voting rights to stave off the will of the American people.

Wisconsin, after seven years of Republican Party voter obstruction, has seen a proliferation of municipalities helping voters.

This effort is a success story.

"That’s thanks in part to a nonpartisan counteroffensive led by election clerks in metro voting districts," notes In These Times, pointing to public-private partnerships that have emerged in reaction against the Republican Party, (WISC-TV).

North Dakota and Georgia present the most egregious efforts of Republican Party fascism against democracy.

What’s happening in North Dakota and Georgia are examples of why Democrats have to be tough and be prepared to fight for democratic ideals and American values. Many call it voter suppression by Republicans. More simple than that: it’s cheating. Be strong - vote! https://t.co/MNEPgeM5Dp

— Eric Holder (@EricHolder) October 16, 2018

But voting rights are individual liberties, not mere instruments of a game.
---
It will be ironic if near-presidential-level turnouts in the midterm elections signal the "end of the Republicans’ voter obstruction project," (In These Times).

Absentee Voters Begin Casting Ballots this Week in Wisconsin, Rights Workers Eye Hostile DoJ

Updated - Madison, Wisconsin — An expected 100,000s of absentee voters begin casting ballots this week in the midterm Wisconsin general elections.

In the last gubernatorial election in 2014, 374,075 residents cast absentee ballots,(General Election Voter Registration and Absentee Statistics 1984-2016. 2014 voter turnout, 54.84%, Wisconsin Election Commission).

This year both absentee voting and turnout are expected to soar following increased efforts of election clerks in metro voting districts to help eligible voters cast their votes, (In These Times).

The metro clerks, who administer elections, have been freed from Republican-enacted restrictions to serve eligible voters since July 2016 when a federal voting rights case ruling swept away large elements of the Republican Party's voter-obstruction legislative initiative.

Madison has led the way in assisting voters. Most recently, a record (unofficial) turnout of 42.76 percent in the August primary elections was achieved in a continuing effort to secure the right to vote under Article III of the Wisconsin Constitution.

Madison announced its tentative schedule and new record number of locations for early voting, slated to begin on Sept 20 at City Hall.

Did you know that early voting starts soon in some communities - Madison on Sept. 20 and Milwaukee on Sept. 24! What a great service for voters. Do you know any other places where early voting starts this month? @LWV_WI @COVOBCWI @MadisonWIClerk

— EPWisco (@EPWisco) September 17, 2018

The federal Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment Act (MOVE) law mandates states and territories transmit ballots for federal elections "to absent uniformed services and overseas voters no later than 45 days before federal elections," (Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment Act (MOVE). This year the 45-day mandate makes Sept 24 the deadline.
 ---
Voting rights workers are watching the Republican Wisconsin Dept of Justice for whom voting rights are a societal defect to be overcome.

The Republican DoJ could attempt a last-minute legal effort to halt voting rights, as the DoJ did in 2014 in a widely criticized state action and federal appellate ruling.

Two federal voting rights cases  — One Wisconsin Institute v. Thomsen and Frank v. Walker — are before the full circuit at the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, (Marley, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel).

In August, Mal Contends emailed a voting rights question to two state DoJ officials, Mss. Ballwegra and Mikalofsky, reading: "Can we expect a new filing to Seventh Circuit from DoJ in the next several weeks Re One Wisconsin Now and Walker v. Frank?"

No response has been received. ---

Have you requested an absentee ballot for the Nov. 6 election? If so, we're diligently working to get your ballot to you. This is a fraction of the thousands of ballots that will be shipped out, beginning this week. For info on how to vote absentee, visit https://t.co/pdwvaBFqe7 pic.twitter.com/BpohJAk1hv

— Madison WI Clerk (@MadisonWIClerk) September 18, 2018

Wisconsin's Fight for Voting Rights Means Preserving Democracy Against Racism

Molly McGrath (L), a voting rights attorney with the ACLU,
works with Madison residents to get the IDs they need
to vote under Wisconsin’s restrictive voter-ID law.
(Courtesy of Molly McGrath); used at In These Times.

Madison, Wisconsin — In Wisconsin, Republican electoral success depends on appealing to white supremacists, and blocking black, brown and young voters from casting ballots.

It's a grand, racist tradition, ole-time religion supported by white Evangelicals.
 ---
"What do you call 1,000 niggers at the bottom of the ocean?" asks a popular joke at a Fond du Lac elementary school, Liz Waters, in the 1970s.

The punchline is, "A good start."

You get it?

The answer to this riddle is not what the niggers are doing at the bottom of the ocean — that's a red herring.

Rather, the significance is the niggers are dead and drowned, and this is just the beginning of the whimsical genocide Wisconsin parents bequeathed to their children during family-time.

Wisconsin is about race — no matter that race is a psychological delusion, and an enduring deadly myth.

Wisconsin racism is why, for example, U.S. Rep Tom Petri (R-Fond du Lac, (1979-2015)), voted against establishing the Martin Luther King, Jr, federal holiday in 1983.

Racism undermines human rights, and racism props up the Republican Party's hold onto power by attacking voting, (Isthmus, In These Times).

Voting as a human and civil right is a societal defect to be overcome for the Republican Party.

As a political issue, opposing voting rights and being seen as opposing voting rights is red meat for the white base of the Republican Party of Wisconsin.

Because while 1,000 dead niggers at the bottom of the ocean doesn't play well, lies of voter fraud and illegal voting is soothing to Republican whites in Wisconsin.

Madison, Wisconsin Announces Early-Voting Sites and Hours

Record number of 16 sites for eligible voters

Madison, Wisconsin — That crazy City Clerk in Madison is going to do it again.

Madison announced its tentative schedule and locations for early voting, slated to begin on Sept 20 at City Hall.

A record 16 early-voting sites are planned, pending Common Council approval.

A record (unofficial) turnout of 42.76 percent took to the polls in the Primary elections as the City continued its mission to serve eligible voters who wish to cast ballots.

Another record is expected in the mid-term General Election.

Ready to start your countdown to In-Person Absentee Voting for the November Election? Although nothing is official until Council passes a resolution, you can find the tentative schedule and locations here for the City of Madison: https://t.co/3o9TCBRkcw pic.twitter.com/6wesB5jV3A

— Madison WI Clerk (@MadisonWIClerk) August 23, 2018

Voting Rights Are Still Wrong for Republicans

Madison, Wisconsin — The performance of metro and University officials helping eligible voters cast ballots places voting rights workers at odds with the Republican Party from Wisconsin to Georgia to the White House and across the country.

Republicans are desperate to hang onto power so they're continuing their long war against voters, in accordance with Party political beliefs that ruling is preferential to representing.

Gov. Scott Walker's (R) fascist leanings did not propel him to the Republican Party's nomination for the presidency in 2015, but only because Walker became an embarrassment after attempting to think on his feet, (Glueck, The Politico, ABC News).

Wisconsin Republicans and only Republicans have been targeting and obstructing voters for seven years, but after a federal voting rights case ruling in 2016, municipalities are free to help voters.

Madison has led the way, garnering a record 42.8 percent turnout in the Fall primary election.

The federal voting rights case, One Wisconsin Institute v. Thomsen, is now consolidated with Frank v. Walker, and both cases are being heard before a three-judge panel at the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, (Marley, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel).

In the current iteration of a Republican Party holding to anti-liberty views, voters must be stopped to the extent possible.

As Wisconsin election officials tabulate and certify the Fall Primary results in the coming days, looming is the Republican Wisconsin Dept of Justice for whom voting rights are a societal defect to be overcome.

Voters must be stopped from casting votes or Republicans face the prospect of defeat such as the special election of State Sen. Dist One that Walker and Republicans went to absurd lengths to block this year.

Two federal voting rights cases  — One Wisconsin Institute v. Thomsen and Frank v. Walker — are before a three-judge panel at the U.S.  Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, (Marley, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel).

This week I emailed a voting rights question to two state DoJ officials, Mss. Ballwegra and Mikalofsky, reading: "Can we expect a new filing to Seventh Circuit from DoJ in the next several weeks Re One Wisconsin Now and Walker v. Frank?"

No response received.

The three judges who would consider new filings in the voting rights litigation are: Frank Easterbrook, Michael Kanne and Diane Sykes.

Easterbrook and Sykes are corrupt and craft their election-law opinions to most benefit the Republican Party.

Both judges would be willing to issue an order in the next eight weeks eviscerating the effect of pro-voting rights decisions that have resulted in high voter turnouts during the last two years.
 ---
In just five weeks, absentee voting begins in the Wisconsin Fall General Election, per the Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment Act (MOVE), a federal law that mandates states and territories transmit ballots for federal elections "to absent uniformed services and overseas voters no later than 45 days before federal elections."

Election Day is Nov. 6.

Madison Wisconsin Delivers Record Turnout in Fall Primary Election

Madison, Wisconsin — The best news out of Wisconsin last night comes from Madison.

A record (unofficial) turnout of 42.76 percent in this vibrant oasis took to the polls as the City continued its mission to serve eligible voters who wish to cast ballots.

This performance in democracy is not an accident.

The Madison City Clerk's motto — we exist to assist — is a mission every voting rights worker, every poll worker, every assisting staffer at Madison libraries, appears to take very seriously.

The unofficial final turnout in the City of Madison today was 42.76% of registered voters with 66,653 Madisonians casting ballots. pic.twitter.com/UeBvr3PQjT

— Madison WI Clerk (@MadisonWIClerk) August 15, 2018

Who can argue with the results?

Gov. Scott Walker (R) and Wisconsin Republicans do.

Even as Madison election officials tabulate and certify the Fall Primary results in the coming days, looming is the Republican Wisconsin Dept of Justice for whom voting rights are a societal defect to be overcome.

Voters must be stopped from casting votes or Republicans face the prospect of defeat such as the special election of State Sen. Dist One that Walker and Republicans went to absurd lengths to block this year.

Two federal voting rights cases  — One Wisconsin Institute v. Thomsen and Frank v. Walker — are before a three-judge panel at the U.S.  Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, (Marley, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel).

This week I emailed a voting rights question to two state DoJ officials, Mss. Ballwegra and Mikalofsky, reading: "Can we expect a new filing to Seventh Circuit from DoJ in the next several weeks Re One Wisconsin Now and Walker v. Frank?"

No response received.

The three judges who would consider new filings in the voting rights litigation are: Frank Easterbrook, Michael Kanne and Diane Sykes.

Easterbrook and Sykes are corrupt and craft their election-law opinions to most benefit the Republican Party.

Both judges would be willing to issue an order in the next eight weeks eviscerating the effect of pro-voting rights decisions that have resulted in high voter turnouts during the last two years.
 ---
In just five weeks, absentee voting begins in the Wisconsin Fall General Election, per the Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment Act (MOVE), a federal law that mandates states and territories transmit ballots for federal elections "to absent uniformed services and overseas voters no later than 45 days before federal elections."

Election Day is Nov. 6.

Wonder what Republicans at the Dept of Justice are thinking about today.

Wisconsin Midterm Primary Voting Has Begun — Absentee Ballots Are Being Mailed

Madison, Wisconsin — Voting in the Wisconsin midterm primaries has begun.

Today, the Madison City Clerk reported absentee ballots for the Aug 14 Primary Election are being mailed to voters.

Absentee voting is expected to spike in the primary and general midterm elections as election clerks in metro voting districts have expanded in-person-absentee voting stations, (In These Times).

The Madison City Clerk sent out the following communication this morning:

If you requested that the Clerk's Office mail you an absentee ballot for August, your ballot is on its way! This is the type of primary where you choose a political party at the top of the ballot, and then vote for individual candidates in that party's section of the ballot. pic.twitter.com/qNl48vlyVT

— Madison WI Clerk (@MadisonWIClerk) June 25, 2018

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.

Gov. Scott Walker (R) and Wisconsin Republicans have passed dozens of laws intended to obstruct voters. Several voter obstruction laws have been successfully challenged in federal court by voting rights workers.

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.

Madison, Wisconsin Turns out to Vote, Fuels Blue Wave as Scott Walker Whines

Madison, Wisconsin early voters cast their preference in
March in collaborative effort to secure the franchise

Madison, Wisconsin—When citizens are welcomed to vote by a city protecting voting rights, then people will exercise their franchise under the Wisconsin Constitution.

Madison again led the state in turnout with 45.39 percent turnout yesterday in the Spring General election, doubling state turnout of 22 percent.

With each Wisconsin election, it becomes more apparent why Scott Walker and the Republican Party so fear elections and voters.

Walker complained on Twitter that voters are full of "anger" at his "bold reforms."

From Madison:

Unofficial final turnout of registered voters in the City of Madison for the 2018 Spring Election was 45.39%. Congrats to ward 40, Olbrich Gardens, which had a whopping 73.58% of registered voters vote.

— Madison WI Clerk (@MadisonWIClerk) April 4, 2018

Blue wave? Sure.

Another way of looking at the soaring voter turnouts is Article III, Wisconsin Constitution wave.

Wisconsin Voting Rights Workers Could Give Winning Margin Against Scott Walker

Madison, Wisconsin's voter ambassador effort is increasing
voter turnout. Gov. Scott Walker and Republicans have
worked to suppress voter turnout, and insulate the
GOP from voter sentiment, an anti-democratic enterprise.

Update: Madison City Clerk prepared for near-presidential-level turn-out, 75-percent, for Spring General Elections on April 3.
 --
Madison, Wisconsin—The 2018 mid-term, general elections look to offer a reversal of political fortune in Republican-led Wisconsin this coming November.

Anti-Trump animus, women-are-human sentiment, public school defenders, local clean water, citizen-action groups, and anti-Foxcon voters are poised to become electoral factors.

The most potent force in the electoral landscape may be a non-partisan, pro-voting rights counter-attack against the Republican-enacted transformation of election law and voting rights.

Led by an unassuming Madison City Clerk, one Maribeth Witzel-Behl, Madison has pioneered a voter outreach effort begun in 2012 after Wisconsin Republicans passed the first of dozens of changes to state election law drafted to obstruct young, minority and marginalized voters.

Four of Wisconsin’s five most-populous cities have implemented, plan or are contemplating similar voter outreach initiatives in the Summer when gubernatorial and congressional primaries begin on June 30, according to city clerk websites and offices reached by phone.

Voter-outreach programs or increased multiple early-voting look to appear in Milwaukee, Madison, Kenosha and Racine.

Voter Obstruction Is No Accident

Andrew Goodman, a former UW-Madison freshman and slain civil rights worker, was murdered along with James Earl Chaney and Michael 'Mickey' Schwerner by terrorists in Mississippi in 1964 for helping black Mississippians register to vote.

Voting rights are under attack again, though it’s not homicide, torture and terror targeting voters and rights activists.

It’s Republican-enacted laws and antagonistic poll workers, and the voting rights fight is right here in Wisconsin.

Today, brilliant, young students like Goodman, Cheney and Schwerner might come to the Badger State to help targeted populations.

In fact in 2017, students, the Andrew Goodman Center’s Vote Everywhere Ambassadors and the Morgridge Center for Public Service hosted Voterpalooza on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus to help students vote, the most-recent in a series of voting rights forums held on the UW campus.

In mid-March, President Barack Obama’s former attorney general, Eric Holder, came to Madison and Milwaukee for chats about student and minority activism and voter engagement.

Holder works with a national group fighting gerrymandering. In February Holder sued Gov. Scott Walker for his refusal to call a special election in a northeastern state senate district, blocking over 172,000 residents of representation, lest Republicans face another loss before the November general election. On March 22, Wisconsin voters prevailed against Scott Walker.

Scott Walker exposed the vulnerability of Wisconsin to determined, anti-democratic political forces that achieve electoral success in part by rigging election law, blocking elections and obstructing voters.

Wisconsin Republicans enacted some 35 statutory changes to election law passed along party-line votes since 2011, The Capital Times newspaper noted.

The 2016 presidential general election saw Wisconsin's voter turnout fall to a two-decade low, dropping three percentage points from 2012, 67.34 from 70.4, data housed at the Wisconsin Elections Commission show.

In July 2016, a landmark voting rights case, One Wisconsin Now v. Thomson, a federal judge swept away much of the Republican voter-obstruction law as "pretextual" (misrepresentative) in legislative intent, though further federal litigation sustained the constitutionality of the voter-restrictive photo voter ID law passed in 2011.

Republican-appointed federal appellate judges narrowly upheld the photo voter ID law against a furious judicial dissents authored by retired judge Richard Posner.

Madison Fights Back

"Our goal is for each eligible voter to be able to cast a ballot and have that ballot counted," emailed Witzel-Behl in March 2018 in a typically understated, and rare public comment on the effort of Madison to help voters vote.

Witzel-Behl, City Clerk since 2006, is laconic in communications, measuring the success of elections on ballot accessibility, and not the soaring turnouts voter-friendly city elections have garnered.

An examination of Madison voter turnouts since 2012 reveals helping voters to vote may prove decisive at the ballot box against Republicans who have hindered voters.

"The Madison clerk's office takes every opportunity to educate the public and engage voters in the election process. Whether it's a retirement facility or a student organization, essentially any community group that wants to be more informed or get training to do voter registration will get a visit from the clerk and her staff," said Barry Burden, Professor of Political Science, Director of the Elections Research Center, and the Lyons Family Chair in Electoral Politics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in a March email. "In 2016 the clerk's office took good advantage of changes in the absentee voting law to offer early voting opportunities at libraries and other facilities across the city. It appears that all of this proactivity paid off in robust turnout in the presidential election despite a decline statewide."

Madison has facilitated record-breaking voter turnouts the last two years, including the February 2018 Spring primary held during inclement weather, which featured numerous polling sites running out of ballots, as city couriers rushed ballots across town on dark, icy roads.

In the 2018 Spring election, Madison chalked up 29.4 percent turnout in elections where single-digit turnouts used to be the norm.

After the One Wisconsin decision, Madison was freed to increase the operating hours and number of early-voting (in-person, absentee), places from what was a statutorily-mandated one site to now a record-high 15 voting stations.

Many Madison voting places are now sited in neighborhoods with high minority and student populations.

The multiple early-voting sites combined with the aggressive City voter outreach saw early voting in the 2016 presidential election jump 21 percent from 2012, a bigger increase is expected in the 2018 gubernatorial, state legislative and congressional general election.

Voting for the Fall general election will begin 45 days before the Nov. 6 Election Day around September 22.

Battle of Voter Registration

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

Registration after Wisconsin Republicans enacted 2015 (Wisconsin Act 261) takes some 30 minutes, whereas pre-Act 261, voters could register in a process taking some six minutes.

The second-most populous and fast-growing city committing to help rather than obstruct voters makes Madison the first among Wisconsin's 1,851 municipalities to implement such a comprehensive pro-voter project.

A knowledgeable source in Madison City Hall, speaking on background because she is not an official spokesperson, says several other Wisconsin municipalities have contacted the City Clerk's office for the purpose of replicating Madison's mounting voter turnouts.

Kenosha, Wisconsin's fourth most-populous city, adopted a voter ambassador project in 2016 similar to Madison’s.

In Milwaukee, the city plans some 20 voter registration 'kiosks' for voting registrations. Milwaukee is also increasing its early-voting sites from three in 2016 to some eight this Summer when early voting begins on June 30 for the gubernatorial, and congressional primaries.

Other private organizations have joined in the fight for voting rights in Wisconsin.

In Dane County, the Dane County Voter ID Coalition has drawn voting rights, labor and civil rights groups together under the mission to "maximize voter participation in the electoral process."

Several UW campuses have implemented voter outreach programs similar to Madison's.

Bottom Line for November

In 2014, a poorly run Democratic campaign for governor with weak support from a moribund state Democratic Party lost to Scott Walker by 136,793 votes (54.84 turnout), the ceiling for Walker.

In 2012, a well-run Democratic campaign for president won by 213,019 votes (with a 70.40 turnout).

Led by Madison which appears likely to increase the anti-Scott Walker vote by some 30,000 voters from 2014 by virtue of expected near-presidential-level turnouts, black folks, brown folks, unions, the universities and the cities that are the bane of Republican policymaking are fighting back by enhancing democracy, voters in particular.

Their aim is to help voters register and vote.

Andrew Goodman would be proud. Scott Walker may be sorry.

If as many pols predict on background, pro-voter initiatives by cities and UW campuses result in record turnout in the November general election, Wisconsin will have pointed the way for electoral success against Scott Walker and other national anti-democratic forces seeking to dismantle voting rights.

Madison, Wisconsin Turnout Soars to 29.4 percent in Spring Primary

Madison, Wisconsin—This weekend the Madison City Clerk's office sent an administrative email to election workers reporting City turnout was 29.4 percent in the Spring Primary election held Feb. 20.

Typically, Wisconsin Spring primaries, which are held in February, see turnouts in the single digits.

Last weeks' election reveals the pre-2017 days of single-digit turnouts in Madison appear to be over.

The new normal is record-breaking turnout in February weather, continuing a trend from 2017 begun after the 2016 Wisconsin voting rights case, One Wisconsin Institute v. Thomsen, in which voters prevailed over Wisconsin Republicans' voter obstruction measures.

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).

Since the sweeping One Wisconsin ruling that, for example, struck down a Republican-enacted law forbidding the placement of multiple early-voting polling places in Madison and Milwaukee, Madison has worked for "voter outreach efforts, ... [with the] goal is that every eligible voter will be able to cast a ballot and have that ballot counted," as noted in a typical Madison Voter Education Ambassador Training session to be held on Feb. 27.

The judge in One Wisconsin ruled "most of the state-imposed limitations on the time and location for in-person absentee voting," failed to further a legitimate state interest, a low bar, (p.5).

Madison now retains some 14 early voting, (in-person, absentee), locations in city limits.

Madison's facilitating the right of voters to vote has provoked hostile Wisconsin Republicans to retaliate against Madison through several non-election initiatives that eliminate local control. The initiatives are being considered in the Wisconsin legislature.

The hostility also comes from some white poll workers.

At the Meadowood polling site on Feb. 20, a white poll worker, (a racist named Terry), had voiced specific disapproval about the inclusion of black poll workers in April 2017. The racist remains working at the polls.

Terry harassed and hazed other poll workers last Tuesday with the apparent intent of creating a hostile polling place at the Meadowood polling place.

White entitlement and racial animus still define Wisconsin politics and the polling place.

Against this reality, training sessions and work by numerous Madison election officials to implement measures recognizing the powerful, affirmative right to vote in the Wisconsin Constitution, Suffrage - Article III, (Ballotpedia), and protected by the First and 14th Amendments of the United States Constitution, continue.