Wisconsin: State puts brakes on plan to close DMV sites | JSOnline

Two weeks after announcing it would potentially close 16 Division of Motor Vehicles centers, the state reversed course Thursday and said it will maintain all of its licensing centers and will open four new locations.

The Legislature required the DMV this year to develop the most cost-effective program possible to implement a new law requiring people to show photo ID to vote and to ensure that voters will be able to obtain the state-issued photo IDs. The IDs will be required for voting starting in the spring.

Under an original proposal released July 22, the division said it may close 16 locations and open nine new ones, for a net loss of seven centers. The plan called for expanding hours at others. DMV Operations Manager Patrick Fernan said pressure from state lawmakers and citizens to keep the DMV accessible led to the decision not to close any branches. “It became clear that there was a strong desire to maintain service in all current locations,” Fernan said.

Wisconsin: Colleges Make Changes on Student IDs To Comply With New Law | WISC Madison

College campuses in Wisconsin are now trying to make changes to student IDs for students to be able to use them to vote.

A last-minute change to the law permitted student IDs to be used at the polls, but some schools will have to make big changes for them to comply with the law requirements. According to the Voter ID law, student identification can be used at the polls if they have a photo, a signature and expire in two years. Students at University of Wisconsin-Platteville migh see these changes this fall. Officials said that they’ve remade the identification cards.

Wisconsin: Jobs group files complaint, says opponents intimidating voters | JSOnline

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: Voter Suppression Complaint Filed Against Americans For Prosperity | Hudson, WI Patch

When Charles Shultz received an absentee ballot application form in the mail on Thursday, July 28, it didn’t take long before he found something fishy with it. The mailer, sent by conservative advocacy group Americans For Prosperity (AFP) to his North Hudson home, included directions to mail the application to Madison instead of his village clerk.

“It seems to me like it was an effort by this organization to delay the process or make the process more complicated,” Shultz said. “And, of course the date of when it should be returned was wrong.” That set off red flags for Shultz.

Wisconsin: Interest Groups Mail Ballot Apps to Wrong Wisconsin Cities | wsaw.com

Several state recall votes are scheduled for the next couple weeks, but interest groups hoping to lock in votes now are sending out absentee applications to voters. Careless processing means some may never see a ballot. Only a voter’s own city clerk can issue them an absentee ballot. The problem this summer is that parties and interest groups sending out the apps are sending some to the wrong cities.

“There’s no indication on these applications, the ones that are not officially from the GAB, as to what municipality you belong to,” said Amy Duley, clerk of the Town of Pine River near Merrill.

Duley is receiving absentee applications nearly every day. Some come on the official Wisconsin Government Accountability Board form, but others come on paperwork solicited by pro-life, pro-gun, and other interest groups. The problem is that the interest group processing centers are sending applications for cities like Merrill to Pine River.

Wisconsin: Political groups get recall election date wrong | The Oshkosh Northwestern

Some voters in the 18th Senate District are getting misleading information in the mail about the deadline for absentee voting in the recall election between Republican incumbent Sen. Randy Hopper and Democrat Jessica King.

Absentee voter applications sent by the conservative group Americans for Prosperity tell voters to return the mailing by Aug. 11, two days after Aug. 9 recall election. Oshkosh Deputy Clerk Angela Joeckel said ballots that arrive after Aug. 9 would not be counted in any way. She said Thursday, Aug. 4, is the last day the clerk’s office can send an absentee ballot out by mail.

Mailings from AFP with incorrect election dates were also sent out in at least two of the other five districts in which recall electionswill be held on Tuesday, those represented by Sheila Harsdorf of River Falls and Rob Cowles of Allouez.

Wisconsin: Democrats cry foul over recall ballot mailing | Associated Press

The Wisconsin Democratic Party on Tuesday called for an investigation into whether a conservative group tried to suppress turnout in next week’s recall elections targeting Republican state senators by telling voters that absentee ballots received a day after election day would be counted.

Meanwhile, elections regulators said the Democratic National Committee promised to stop calling voters in one of the Republicans’ districts after it gave some of his constituents the wrong election date in automated calls last week.

… The Wisconsin Democratic Party filed a complaint Monday with the state Government Accountability Board, which oversees elections, alleging that absentee ballot applications mailed out by Americans for Prosperity, a conservative group that has spent heavily to help the Republicans, were intended to suppress turnout. And on Tuesday, state Democratic Party Chairman Mike Tate sent a request for an investigation to U.S. Attorney James Santelle. His office declined to comment on the matter.

 

Wisconsin: Americans for Prosperity ballot applications have late return date | Politico.com

Americans for Prosperity is sending absentee ballots to Democrats in at least two Wisconsin state Senate recall districts with instructions to return the paperwork after the election date.

The fliers, obtained by POLITICO, ask solidly Democratic voters to return ballots for the Aug. 9 election to the city clerk “before Aug. 11.” A Democrat on the ground in Wisconsin said the fliers were discovered to be hitting doors in District 2 and District 10 over the weekend.

“These are people who are our 1’s in the voterfile who we already knew.  They ain’t AFP members, that’s for damn sure,” the source said.

Wisconsin: Proposal would mean more communication from state about free voter IDs | Superior Telegram

The Department of Transportation (DOT) would be required to be more upfront that ID’s required for voting are free, under a bill being circulated by a Democratic state lawmaker.

Normally, an ID would cost $28 dollars. But for those people who just need an ID for voting purposes, it’s free under the new voter ID law. But Democratic Sen. Lena Taylor of Milwaukee says the law is still causing confusion for voters.

“You can do this, but you can’t do that. You’ve got to jump through this hoop and not that hoop,” says Taylor. “I just want to make sure that the DOT is doing the piece that complements so that the concept of whether or not you need to have an ID and whether or not you need to pay for it, that there is no confusion.”

Wisconsin: Robocalls arouse suspicion with bad election date | LaCrosse Tribune

A round of automated phone calls urging residents of the 32nd Senate District to vote one week after the upcoming recall election has voters from both parties crying foul. Several voters reported receiving calls Saturday asking about their preference and likelihood to vote in the recall election pitting Republican Sen.
Dan Kapanke against Democratic Rep. Jennifer Shilling, both of La Crosse.

The recorded calls, recipients said, urged them to vote Aug. 16. Only one problem: The 32nd District votes on Aug. 9.

Government Account -ability Board spokesman Reid Magney said the Democratic National Committee called election officials Friday saying they initiated the calls but stopped them Saturday once the incorrect date was discovered. The DNC did not respond to requests for comment Friday.
There are two recall elections set for Aug. 16 in other districts.

Voting Blogs: Bank Account Activity New Voting Requirement in Wisconsin? | Rock the Vote Blog

Did you know that your constitutional right to vote actually hinges on how often you swipe your debit card at Starbucks? No? Neither did a Wisconsin voter who went to the DMV to get his “free” voter ID card.

Since you will need to show a government-issued photo ID to vote in Wisconsin in 2012, the requirements for actually getting an ID at the DMV are pretty important. This video showcases the apparently new requirement that a bank account has to show a certain amount of “activity” to be used to prove your residency. I don’t remember seeing that in the Constitution.

Wisconsin: Walker administration working on plan to close offices where people can obtain driver’s licenses and Voter IDs | BusinessWeek

Gov. Scott Walker’s administration is working on finalizing a plan to close as many as 10 offices where people can obtain driver’s licenses in order to expand hours elsewhere and come into compliance with new requirements that voters show photo IDs at the polls.

One Democratic lawmaker said Friday it appeared the decisions were based on politics, with the department targeting offices for closure in Democratic areas and expanding hours for those in Republican districts.

A high-ranking DOT official rejected that claim, saying the changes were based on economics, not politics. Rep. Andy Jorgensen, D-Fort Atkinson, called on the state Department of Transportation to reconsider its plants to close the Fort Atkinson DMV center. The department plans to expand by four hours a week the hours of a center about 30 minutes away in Watertown.

Wisconsin: The Next Step in Wisconsin’s Disenfranchisement Agenda | Campus Progress

If there has been any doubt regarding the intent behind this year’s upsurge in voter ID legislation, Governor Scott Walker’s latest move leaves little room to question the conservative disenfranchisement agenda, at least in the state of Wisconsin. In what seems like a blatant attempt to lessen the accessibility of photo identification, Governor Walker’s administration has announced the closure of sixteen DMV centers throughout the state – for “economic” purposes.

“What the heck is going on here? Is politics at play here?” asked Rep. Andy Jorgenson (D-Fort Atkinson). The Department of Transportation plans to close the DMV center in Jorgenson’s county of Fort Atkinson, with the next nearest station more than thirty minutes away by car.

An official from the Department of Transportation, however, insists that there is no correlation between the state’s recent passage of legislation requiring photo ID to vote and the planned closing of sixteen centers that provide the required identification.

South Carolina: Voter ID at the DMV in Wisconsin (and what it could mean in South Carolina) | Examiner.com

A brave Wisconsin woman videotaped the ordeal of getting her son a Voter ID, which is now a minimum requirement for non-drivers in the state to participate in elections.

She and her son succeeded, but only after a long process that included need to show banking statements (which at first were rejected because they didn’t show enough activity). And after finally completing the endeavor, they were told to pay $28 (a poll tax?) even though the Voter ID’s are supposed to be completely free.

Wisconsin: Absentee vote costs adding up quickly | LaCrosse Tribune

Area municipal clerks are seeing a jump in requests for mailed absentee ballots, thanks to efforts by special interest groups to make sure people don’t miss out on the Aug. 9 Senate election.

In that rare recall election, Republican Sen. Dan Kapanke will face Democratic challenger Jennifer Shilling, a five-term state Assembly member who last week won a primary over Republican James Smith, who ran as a Democrat to give Kapanke more time to campaign.

“We’ve got so many people going door to door, and they’re kind of strong-arming people into applying for an absentee ballot,” said West Salem Village Administrator/Clerk Teresa Schnitzler.

Voting Blogs: Wisconsin Clerk: Anger and Lines Greet ID Soft Launch | Rock the Vote Blog

Wisconsin’s recall elections are serving as a “soft implementation” of the new voter ID law, and poll workers and clerks are already expressing concerns about the new process. Even with modest turnout, voters experienced long waits and confusion, alarming clerks for future elections.

The concerns of elections officials and poll workers – including voice fears about long lines stretching from two to three hours, frustrated voters leaving before casting a ballot, anger revolving around poll book signatures and IDs, and drastically understaffed polls – were captured in a letter from the Madison City Clerk, Maribeth Witzel-Behl.

Wisconsin: Nickolaus says she does not plan to show all election-breakdown results | JSOnline

When Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus said in May that she intended to start providing unofficial election night results broken down by municipality – something that might have flagged the kind of snafu that earned her notoriety after the Supreme Court election this spring – she did not mean all municipal results.

Nickolaus told the County Board’s Executive Committee on Monday that she’ll change her reporting practices based on advice from the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board.

When pressed in committee by Supervisor David Swan as to whether she’d return to past practice of showing results for municipalities, even if the state elections officials don’t suggest it, she said, “Not at this point.”

Editorials: Wisconsin voter ID law: Hurdles for voters, little to curb voter fraud & $7 million tab | Madison Independent

Governor Walker recently signed a bill that requires voters to show IDs at the polls. The new bill will cost Wisconsin taxpayers nearly $7 million in new spending and lost revenue, according to the non-partisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau. Many claim that the measure will do little to prevent voter fraud and will disenfranchise thousands of minority, elderly and rural voters.

According to PolitiFact, Wisconsin’s law is one of the most restrictive, based on research on acceptable IDs and voting procedures for those without IDs from state election offices, and the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Under the new law, citizens would be allowed to vote only after showing a photo ID such as a Wisconsin driver’s license, state-issued ID card, certain very limited student IDs, military IDs, passports, naturalization certificates or IDs issued by a tribe based in Wisconsin. The new law will be partially implemented in the upcoming recall elections this year, with full implementation beginning with the presidential election in 2012.

Editorials: Justice Rears Her Head in Wisconsin As Kathy Nickolaus is Investigated by GAB | PoliticusUSA

In case you were wondering where justice was hiding in Wisconsin, she’s reared her head in Waukesha County. County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus will be investigated by the Government Accountability Board, which certified the Wisconsin Supreme Court election in question.

A former Dane country prosecutor will finally be looking into Nickolaus’ conduct. And by conduct, I mean misconduct, including open ballot bags with no secure chain of custody, voter rolls with tags that don’t match ballot bags, a canvas called a day early which took place with Nickolaus never telling the other canvassers about the “lost” votes for two days during the canvas and much more.

Voting Blogs: Wisconsin’s Soft Launch and Hard Times | Rock the Vote Blog

As the Wisconsin recall elections kicked off yesterday, voters were greeted with a test run of the new photo ID law. The “soft implementation,” as officials were calling it, was an effort to get voters used to the real photo ID requirements, which will go into effect next year. Everyone who votes in the recall elections this year will be asked to show ID. If you don’t have one, you’ll still be allowed to vote and will be given a flyer on the new requirements and how to meet them.

The Government Accountability Board estimates that educating Wisconsin voters will cost about $750,000, not including the price of the IDs or infrastructure such as increased poll hours and worker training.

Wisconsin: Robo Calls To Democrats Add To Voter Confusion | WISN Milwaukee

Automated telephone calls to Democrats placed on a primary election day could be adding to an already confusing and controversial election day in Wisconsin.

Wisconsin Right To Life began placing calls to Wisconsin Democrats stating they will be sent applications for absentee ballots for an upcoming election.
The phone calls, which were traced to a telemarketing company in Virginia, carried the following message from Wisconsin Right to Life executive director Barbara Lyons:

Hello, this is Barbara Lyons from Wisconsin Right to Life. I’m calling today to let you know that you will be receiving an absentee ballot application for the upcoming recall elections in the mail in the next few days. These recall elections are very important and voting absentee will ensure that your vote is counted and that we can maintain a pro-family, pro-life state Senate. We hope that we can count on you to complete that application and send it back to us within seven days. Thank you for your support. Wisconsin Right to Life can be reached by calling 877-855-5007.

Wisconsin: 6 fake Democrats fall, setting stage for GOP recalls | JSOnline

Six fake Democratic candidates put up by the Republican Party to buy time for Republican state senators subject to recalls accomplished that job Tuesday, but none of them did the unexpected and knocked off a real Democrat.

Candidates backed by the Democratic Party won all six Senate primary elections, all but one of them by substantial amounts. They’ll all go on to face the Republican incumbents on Aug. 9, in an attempt by Democrats to regain control of the state Senate and put the brakes on Gov. Scott Walker’s agenda. That the primaries were held at all is a function of the twists and turns of political strategy played out in recent months as the state broke into warring camps over Walker’s attempt to restrict collective bargaining for public employees.

The Republican Party forced the primaries to give its six senators facing recall another four weeks before facing a Democratic challenger, in order to allow them to take their case to the voters and argue that their work on the budget was good for the state.

Wisconsin: New voter ID rule leaves some absentee voters without ballot | Leader-Telegram

At least a few area voters have been confused by a new rule governing absentee voting. Yvonne and George Nelson of Menomonie planned to cast absentee ballots for the 10th Senate District recall primary Monday before taking a trip out of town.

But they were politely told at the Dunn County Courthouse that they couldn’t vote absentee because under the new voter ID law, they needed to vote by Friday. Before the new law had been passed, the deadline was the day before the election.

“I’m furious,” said Yvonne Nelson, who had been unaware of the change. “I feel disenfranchised. We either have to drive a couple hundred miles to come back to town or not vote. “My husband said he’s not driving back 200 miles at $4 a gallon.”

Wisconsin: Waukesha County clerk Nickolaus plans to use more secure ballot bags | JSOnline

After poorly sealed and torn ballot bags became one source of concern during the recent Supreme Court recount, Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus plans to introduce new, more secure bags.

She said the bags are made of tougher plastic and are comparable to bags used by banks, with an adhesive tape closing that would reveal signs of tampering. Ballots from individual polling places are bagged after they’re counted on election night and stored either at municipal halls or with the county clerk until results are final and uncontested.

Wisconsin: Glendale voters head to Milwaukee in recall primary mixup | JSOnline

About 20 Glendale voters tried to cast recall primary ballots Tuesday at Milwaukee City Hall, a Milwaukee election official said.

The mixup apparently was part of the confusion triggered by the North Shore suburb’s decision to consolidate all of its polling places at Glendale City Hall for Tuesday’s Democratic primary. State Rep. Sandy Pasch (D-Whitefish Bay) is facing Gladys Huber, a Republican running as a Democrat, for the right to challenge Sen. Alberta Darling (R-River Hills) in the Aug. 9 recall election.

Wisconsin: Recall Primaries: Real vs. ‘fake’ Democrats will cost taxpayers more than $475,000 | UPI.com

Wisconsin’s divisive law ending most public-sector collective bargaining set in motion the biggest lawmaker-recall vote in state history, officials said.

Nine recall elections — beginning Tuesday with primaries in six state Senate districts — is “nothing like anyone in Wisconsin or, for that matter, the nation, has seen,” state Government Accountability Board spokesman Reid Magney told The Wall Street Journal.

And unlike in most states, Democratic challengers to six targeted Republican lawmakers are opposed by six Republicans running as Democrats — under Wisconsin’s open-primary system, which lets anyone of any party run in any primary.

Wisconsin: Fake Democrats run in Wisconsin primaries for recall elections | chicagotribune.com

Primary elections in six Wisconsin Senate races Tuesday pitted fake Democrats against candidates supported by the party, with the winners advancing to take on Republican incumbents targeted for recall.

The state Republican Party orchestrated the placement of the fake Democrats on the ballot, thereby delaying the general election until Aug. 9 and giving the incumbents an additional month to campaign.

Tuesday’s primaries marked the first of four elections over the next five weeks related to the targeting of nine senators for recall based on their actions related to Gov. Scott Walker’s proposal taking away collective bargaining rights from most public employees. The Republicans voted for it and the Democrats fled to Illinois for three weeks to delay a vote.

Wisconsin: St. Croix County Republicans urge vote for ‘fake’ Democrat | JSOnline

The St. Croix County Republican Party has launched an 11th-hour effort to mobilize voters to support a “fake” Democrat in the 10th Senate District primary election on Tuesday.

Jesse Garza, chairman of the county party, sent out an email Sunday urging voters who support Sen. Sheila Harsdorf (R-River Falls), who faces a recall election Aug. 9, to vote Tuesday for Isaac Weix of Menomonie. He’s one of six fake or protest candidates put up by the Republican Party to force Democratic primaries in six districts where Republican state senators face recall elections.

Weix faces Shelly Moore, a teacher and state teachers union official from River Falls, in Tuesday’s Democratic primary election. “We have the opportunity, and we might as well use it,” Garza said in a phone interview Sunday.

Wisconsin: Voter ID Phased in as Wisconsin Recall Elections Begin | WUWM

Tuesday’s recall primaries will be the first elections held since state Republicans passed a law requiring voters to present photo identification. But you do not have to show an ID card at the polls yet.

“The Legislature decided they wanted what you could call a ‘soft implementation.’ Photo ID is such a big change, and we don’t want to surprise anyone and have anyone be kept from voting when they don’t know about it,” says Reid Magney, spokesman for the state Government Accountability Board. It oversees elections.

Wisconsin: ‘Madness Abounds’ as Fake Candidates Confuse Wisconsin Recalls | Bloomberg

Wisconsin voters will choose among real and fake Democrats this week to challenge six Republican senators in recall elections that may derail the agenda of Governor Scott Walker. The primaries are the opening skirmish in a state at political war. The six districts in tomorrow’s races have Republicans running as Democrats, hoping to win the nomination and effectively render the Aug. 9 recall votes meaningless.

At a time when politics usually takes a break, voters will select candidates to run against Republicans who supported Walker’s efforts to curb collective-bargaining rights for most public employees. On July 19, there will be two primaries and a full-fledged recall aimed at Democratic senators who fled the state in February in hopes of blocking the measure, which touched off weeks of protests across the nation.

“It feels like madness abounds in our state, like Wisconsin is 65,000 square miles surrounded by sanity,” said Mike McCabe, executive director of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, a nonprofit that advocates openness in government. “We’re just living in a really weird time,” McCabe added in a telephone interview from Madison, the capital.