Uppity Wisconsin

Political writers who in February ridiculed the notion that Obama, flush with a 17-point primary victory here, could in November win substantial blocks of voters among the 'white working class' (WWC), appeal to white voters in Republican strongholds such as Waukesha County, and who crowed that their reading of the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) federal election law was spot-on correct, are in a word: Wrong.

Typical among today's brand of Republican commentators, such admissions have not been forthcoming.
 
White Working Class

What happened to all the voter fraud nonsense from which our intrepid Attorney General was going to protect us?

With the great number of people casting votes that saw Wisconsin at number two in voter turnout in the nation, the GAB reports that the elections were "virtually problem-free."

Now, another rightwinger, Wigderson from Waukesha, plays the fool on the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board's (GAB) maintenance of its statewide registered voter list (SVRS) and the Van Hollen v. Government Accountability Board case meant to stop the spectre of voting fraud.

The GAB, as it said it would, will ask for checks of SVRS against other existing databases, and it is now doing so, per its authority and responsibility and discretion.

The rightwing was right all along, say the know nothings. 

Is this ignorance deliberate? It must be, no one can be that dumb.

Those wishing that the 2008 election will result in commentary from the rightwing that is not quite so uninformed and dull will be disappointed.

Seeing the reaction to the news that the GAB is considering a timetable of its maintenance of its statewide registered voter list (SVRS), one is left with the impression that desire for rightwingers to read before commenting constitutes a lost hope. Hyperbole? I wish.

Regarding the Van Hollen v. Government Accountability Board case, one would believe that those rightwing writers dissing the decision would read the briefs, relevant sections of the HAVA statute and the text of Judge Sumi's decision to dismiss. Sumi’s decision is 22 pages-long and is a quick read.

But rightwingers, like Dad29, show a stubborn resistance to facts. Hey, they were right all along, Dad29 would have you believe.

Update: Video link - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzxPDZN1dd8

More evidence that Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen is a liar, and corrupt partisan.

From the Wisconsin Democratic Party:

Van Hollen says GOP 'may have asked lawyers in my office to file the lawsuit.'

In a recent interview with CNN, Attorney General JB Van Hollen finally admitted to what we’ve known all along, that his hyper-partisan lawsuit against the GAB was brought in collusion with his Republican Party bosses.

Van Hollen doesn’t have a very good poker face. Watch his eyes wandering nervously when the reporter presses him on whether or not the GOP personally asked him to file the lawsuit. Maybe he’s nervous because he lost his lawsuit and now his web of cover-ups and deceit at the DOJ is finally unraveling.

Remember, this is the same guy who made the following statements to reporters last month:

- see also the Washington Independent's new piece, "A Myth of Voter Fraud"
The victory over the GOP and the Wisconsin attorney general's attempt to suppress blacks and other Democratically-leaning voters for electoral purposes reveals other groups and dedicated legal staffs busily at work, literally saving our democracy from the corrupt and anti-democratic forces that reign in today's GOP.

We have come a long way from the 1960s and Arthur Kinoy and William Kunstler and 1,000s of civil rights workers in Alabama and Mississippi who were threatened with their lives (many were murdered), and jail as the white power structure and the internal states' security apparatus were used in every despicable way imaginable by Senator James Eastland, the Klan and assorted racists against the nigger-loving Jews as they were known back then.

Sure, in Wisconsin today the racism and anti-Semitism are absent, the violence and physical intimidation are gone, but remaining in Van Hollen and the Wisconsin Republican Party is the contempt for the voters who insist on casting their votes and making their voices heard in our democracy.

Update: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Greg Palast: Drinking the ACORN Kool-Aid: How Cries of Voter Fraud Cover Up GOP Elections Theft - While Republicans had the media searching for links between Obama and ACORN, RNC operatives were busily completing one of the most massive voter suppression and purging efforts in American history.

Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen's voter suppression suit was tossed because he misread a federal law and tried to use it to suppress votes fighting the spectre of voter fraud, the opposite of its public policy rationale. You would think he would be embarrassed.

Civil rights groups, labor unions, voting rights groups, good government groups - all came together to protect Wisconsin citizens from their attorney general and his political party.

Now, "Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen says he'll deploy more than 50 assistant attorney generals and state agents around the state Nov. 4 to guard against election fraud." - AP

What crap.

The Brennan Center for Justice is compiling a comprehensive synopsis of current voter suppression incidents around the country of which McCain co-chair and Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen' dismissed suit comprises just one of many.

The Voter Suppression Incidents 2008 is an excellent resource, please check it out.

And spread the word: The nonpartisan Election protection coalition (http://www.866ourvote.org/) is fighting voter suppression and is a great resource. Look them up with any problems or concerns: Call 1 866 OUR VOTE (1 866 687 8683).

Update II: Judge tosses lawsuit challenging voter registration checks

Update: GAB opinion for Milwaukee Election Commission: Database mismatch insufficient basis to challenge and/or disqualify voters. HAVA does not authorize changing voter eligibility because of database mismatches.

The GAB opinion is significant because the Wisconsin Republican Party has signaled that it will challenge Milwaukee voters on election day, and many Milwaukee minorities lack currently updated drivers licences.

Obama brought out 1,000s of casually political blacks in the February primary.

The GAB opinion runs counter to the legal complaint by Attorney General Van Hollen and the Wisconsin GOP that is being argued today.

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The legal fight that is being heard today before a Dane County judge will draw the eyes of the nation's voting rights community on the issue of voter suppression and how the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) should be used by states.

At issue:

Update: Breaking - High court rejects GOP bid in Ohio voting dispute. See also NYT editorial on ACORN. GOP just got its vote-suppressing arse handed to 'em. Wisconsin's Van Hollen to see a similar event next Thursday, October 23.

The GOP's corrupt usurpation of the legal system for partisan objectives is a disgrace.

The latest target is the ACORN political group whose only crime as an organization is registering low-income Americans to cast votes, a political crime against the Republican Party.

Practiced on both the national and state levels, the ongoing voter suppression operations of the GOP exercised in the capacity of state authority and in the naked partisan name of the GOP raises the spectre of Richard Nixon in using the government apparatus to suppress the political will of the American people.

Update: Link to additional brief filed by Milwaukee Branch of NAACP and the Milwaukee Teachers Education Association [reading is a breath of fresh air].
Seven civil rights and public interests groups submitted their amici curiae brief in support of the Wisconsin General Accountability Board's (GAB) motion to dismiss the Attorney General's legal petition endorsed by the Wisconsin Republican Party.

Voters' rights communities fear that the Wisconsin Attorney General would suppress voters in the presidential election, characterize the move as a continuation of the national GOP voter suppression effort, and see a corrupt use of the Attorney General's office for partisan gain.