Uppity Wisconsin
Making Wisconsin Progressive Again
Pew Center Data Is Trouble for GOP
Thu, 04/30/2009 - 12:14pm | mal contends
If you want to know why RNC Chair Michael Steele and his allies have become so shrill, it's not only because these guys are unhinged.
They have access to electoral data and a changing America spells trouble for a major political party that is overwhelmingly white, xenophobic, hateful and ignorant. These guys are desperate and Rush and the crew are increasingly impotent.
Consider the just-released Pew Research Center data in the Dissecting the 2008 Electorate: Most Diverse in U.S. History report.
Salon Looks at 1960s Civil Rights Movement
Thu, 04/02/2009 - 8:29am | mal contends
Lauren Hermele has a photo essay on 1960s civil rights veterans in Salon. Great stuff.
Today's Republican Party, like Wisconsin attorney general J.B. Van Hollen, and know-nothing GOP bloggers still don't get why so many were incensed by last year's voter suppression efforts. It's likely that they never will.
A lot of the people comprising the civil rights movement have names that history will not record.
And quite a few live in Wisconsin today.
Registering voters, demanding jobs, risking their lives, enforcing democracy; that's what they did.
Today's Republican Party, like Wisconsin attorney general J.B. Van Hollen, and know-nothing GOP bloggers still don't get why so many were incensed by last year's voter suppression efforts. It's likely that they never will.
Van Hollen to initiate emergency election proceedings?
Sun, 11/02/2008 - 4:25pm | warmmidwest
I'm not sure what this means, and neither does Governor Doyle, nor Chief Judge Sue Bischel of Green Bay, so I'm in good company.
What could Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen have up his sleeve when he calls for "voter checks" on election day because the state may have to "initiate emergency, election-related proceedings."
Could this have something to do with the actions of the law enforcement personnel he's sending to the polls?
Van Hollen Not 'Valid'
Tue, 10/28/2008 - 9:42pm | mal contends
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.
Voter Suppression Incidents 2008
Mon, 10/27/2008 - 2:28pm | mal contends
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).
Bush Seeks Forced Provisional Voting in Ohio
Fri, 10/24/2008 - 8:25pm | mal contends
Incredible! Bush wants the US DOJ to look into the GOP's proposed Ohio vote suppression scheme using HAVA, seeking forced provisional voting that suppresses legal voters.
After being shot down by the US Supreme Court on using the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) for the purpose of declaring eligible voters to be tentatively ineligible because of database mismatches - a purpose that the text of HAVA expressively forbids - Bush and the Republicans will not give up.
As the Milwaukee Branch of NAACP and the Milwaukee Teachers Education Association write in their amicus brief in the Van Hollen v. GAB Wisconsin case, provisional voting is inherently suppressive, and many provisional voters will not be able to come back the next day to corroborate their legal voting status, and leave the voting process with questions about whether their votes counted.
Voter Suppression Case Today
Thu, 10/23/2008 - 6:17am | mal contends
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:
At issue:
Disgrace
Fri, 10/17/2008 - 11:14am | mal contends
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.
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.
GOP Voter Fraud Hoax Gets Knocked Around
Wed, 10/15/2008 - 9:01am | mal contends
The desperate GOP is lying in unison. It's what they're good at.
And truth and civil rights aren't going to stand in the way. It would nice if just one GOP official would stand up and say, 'This is wrong. Suppressing voters is wrong,' Dare to dream.
Andrew Burmon has a piece in Salon knocking down the lie in Behind the GOP's voter fraud hysteria.
Friedman Rips Apart ACORN Voter Fraud Hoax
Tue, 10/14/2008 - 10:34am | mal contends
Update: See A Dose of Reality on the ACORN Hysteria.
Face it Republicans, you are going to lose and you are going to lose big.
But not without a lot of whining and lying first.
Brad Friedman eviscerates the GOP voter fraud lie aimed at the group ACORN, the Association for Community Organisations for Reform Now.
The crimes of ACORN are as Friedman writes in The Guardian:
... that Acorn managed to register some 1.3 (million) low-income (read: Democratic-leaning) voters over the past two years. The rest is, pretty much, just made up. ... Despite the screaming wall-to-wall coverage of 'Democratic voter fraud in 11 swing states' as seen on Fox News and even the once-respectable CNN, none of it's true.
US Justice Department Outsources Voting Rights Hotline
Fri, 10/10/2008 - 2:57pm | mal contends
Makes the progressive 866-OUR-VOTE hotline look even more appealing.
From the JusticeWatch-Alliance for Justice blog:
(I)t appears the Department of Justice (DOJ) has contracted its Voting Rights Section’s 2008 U.S. Election Hotline to none other than defense contractor Lockheed Martin. For those of you not familiar with this service, the hotline was created for callers to determine registration status, report voter intimidation and suppression, and to ask general questions about voting procedures and eligibility.
From the JusticeWatch-Alliance for Justice blog:
(I)t appears the Department of Justice (DOJ) has contracted its Voting Rights Section’s 2008 U.S. Election Hotline to none other than defense contractor Lockheed Martin. For those of you not familiar with this service, the hotline was created for callers to determine registration status, report voter intimidation and suppression, and to ask general questions about voting procedures and eligibility.
Dem Legal Brief: Van Hollen Is "Dead Wrong" in Suppression Suit
Fri, 10/10/2008 - 6:25am | mal contends
Wisconsin can lead the way on October 23 in the most intensely political arena in American society: The courtroom.
Pretensions aside, the judicial branch of government is a dressed-up tool of political power.
As in most areas of government, today’s Republican Party is committed to acquiring power at extreme costs, indifferent at best to the rule of law and democratic values.
In J.B. Van Hollen-Republican Party v. Wisconsin Government Accountability Board (GAB) et al, we may see a public display of how low the GOP has gone when Dane County Judge Maryann Sumi rules on a motion to dismiss Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen’s futile attempt at voter suppression.
No doubt Van Hollen will be rewarded for his political fidelity, while civil rights, the rule of law, and voting rights—well, these remain mere liberal concerns to the smirking GOP.
Pretensions aside, the judicial branch of government is a dressed-up tool of political power.
As in most areas of government, today’s Republican Party is committed to acquiring power at extreme costs, indifferent at best to the rule of law and democratic values.
In J.B. Van Hollen-Republican Party v. Wisconsin Government Accountability Board (GAB) et al, we may see a public display of how low the GOP has gone when Dane County Judge Maryann Sumi rules on a motion to dismiss Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen’s futile attempt at voter suppression.
No doubt Van Hollen will be rewarded for his political fidelity, while civil rights, the rule of law, and voting rights—well, these remain mere liberal concerns to the smirking GOP.
NYT: Voter Suppression Illegal and Widespread
Thu, 10/09/2008 - 8:29am | mal contends
Update: Montana GOP drops registration challenges
via mal contends - Today's NYT has a piece by Ian Urbina with the not reassuring news that Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen has plenty of company in using the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) to try to suppress voters.
via mal contends - Today's NYT has a piece by Ian Urbina with the not reassuring news that Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen has plenty of company in using the Help America Vote Act (HAVA) to try to suppress voters.
On Monday, the Ohio Republican Party filed a motion in federal court against the secretary of state to get the list of all names that have been flagged by the Social Security database since Jan. 1. The motion seeks to require that any voter who does not clear up a discrepancy be required to vote using a provisional ballot.
Wausau Daily-Herald: AG's Voter ID Suit Is All Politics
Thu, 10/09/2008 - 6:26am | mal contends
The Wausau Daily-Herald has an excellent editorial wrapping up the case against J.B. Van Hollen as a partisan using the Attorney General's office in his voter suppression suit. Great stuff.
Civil Rights Brief: Toss AG Voter Suit, AG Misreads Fed Law
Wed, 10/08/2008 - 10:03am | mal contends
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.
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.
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Tags: Civil Rights, Brennan Center for Justice, civil rights, J.B. Van Hollen, Joe Wineke, Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, League of Women Voters of Wisconsin, Ray Taffora, Reince Priebus, Van Hollen v. Government Accountability Board, voter suppression, Wendy