A jobs group that has been under fire from Republicans filed a complaint Friday with election officials, saying Sen. Alberta Darling’s campaign and others intimidated voters.
Wisconsin Jobs Now has been holding get-out-the-vote “block parties” and busing voters to Milwaukee City Hall for early voting in Darling’s recall election. The state Republican Party and conservative group Media Trackers have filed complaints with the state Government Accountability Board because free food and drawings for prizes were offered at the events. State law bars providing anything of value for voting; Wisconsin Jobs Now argues it complied with the law.
On Friday, Wisconsin Jobs Now filed its own complaint with the accountability board, which oversees the state’s election laws. It alleged Darling’s campaign and the group We’re Watching Wisconsin Elections photographed and recorded voters and the buses for extensive periods.
Wisconsin Jobs Now alleged the activity violated a state statute that says “no person may . . . by abduction, duress or any fraudulent device or contrivance, impede or prevent the free exercise of the franchise at an election; or by any act compel, induce or prevail upon an elector to vote or refrain from voting at any election for or against a particular candidate or referendum.”
Sue Edman, executive director of the Milwaukee Election Commission, said 550 people had done early absentee voting in the 10 wards of Darling’s district that are in Milwaukee. Most of those were brought in to vote by Wisconsin Jobs Now, she said.
Full Article: Jobs group files complaint, says opponents intimidating voters – JSOnline.