Despite the title of Wednesday’s editorial — “It’s a wake-up call, all right” — the editors appear to be asleep at the wheel.
Referring to the Kloppenburg versus Prosser election mess, they make the valid narrow point that judicial elections should be abolished, but they fail to acknowledge the far broader ramifications of a tainted election system that is now used in all Wisconsin elections — not just judicial ones.
In view of the fiascoes in Waukesha, Verona and elsewhere, mere failure to prove that election fraud and/or incompetence might have tipped a very close election will not be enough to restore voters’ confidence in this and future outcomes.
The “wake-up call” referred to by JoAnne Kloppenburg included well-documented evidence of problems with ballot processing and chain of custody. These problems are easily correctable, provided journalists wake up, inform the public and hold politicians’ feet to the fire for election reform.
If the Legislature can pass a controversial voter ID law based on the debunked myth of widespread fraud by individual voters, why don’t they (and the State Journal) show similar interest in the security loopholes in ballot custody and tabulation?
We have partisan recall elections coming up in just weeks. Now is the time to restore effective public oversight of the process and hold election officials accountable for restoring confidence in the incorruptibility of our elections.
Full Article: Grant Petty: Real ‘wake-up call’ is for ballot security.