Monday, November 19, 2012

Walker says same day registration "difficult" for retirees "to handle." Must make it "Easier for our clerks to handle."

Both Scott Walker and Robin Vos twisted voting rights into an electoral pretzel recently in separate public statements. And never have these guys sounded more desperate and pathetic.

For Scott Walker, he’s concerned about senior poll volunteers, and isn't it about "toym"?

jsonline-Jason Stein: "States across the country that have same-day registration have real problems because the vast majority of their states have poll workers who are wonderful volunteers, who work 13-hour days and who in most cases are retirees," Walker said at the library, responding to a question from an audience member about election safeguards. "It's difficult for them to handle the volume of people who come at the last minute. It'd be much better if registration was done in advance of election day. It'd be easier for our clerks to handle that. All that needs to be done."
How touching. Is there one Republican voter who doesn't find that comment insulting? For a party that thinks seniors should be shopping for, and comparing health care options in the marketplace well into their 80's, is this a consistent message?

Republican assembly speaker Robin Vos is on board of course:
Since last week's election, both Walker and incoming Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) have said they're considering ending the practice, which goes back to 1976 in the state. "I want to explore that. I want to see if there are upsides to motor-voter as opposed to same-day registration," Vos said.
But Republicans oppose motor-voter registration as much as they support voter ID. 
Milwaukee Election Commission executive director Neil Albrecht said changes to the registration law would most impact young people and renters. Last year, Kevin Kennedy, the director of the state Government Accountability Board, said eliminating election-day registration would be a mistake. Because Wisconsin allows such registration, the state is exempt from a federal law requiring states to allow people to register to vote at motor vehicle centers and welfare offices. That federal law would kick into effect if election-day registration is repealed, driving up costs for taxpayers, Kennedy said.
This is undoubtedly payback for the overwhelming Obama win in Wisconsin. 
Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett said "Clearly the governor is upset with the election results and believes the outcome here in Wisconsin would have been different if there was no same-day registration. Their goal is to suppress votes of people who don't vote for Republicans."
Like a dog marking their territory, Republicans want to leave their irreversible marked in our state constitution.
Vos said that he was "committed" to restoring photo ID before the 2014 elections and was willing to consider a constitutional amendment to do that. 
Since the courts have deemed Walker's voter ID law unconstitutional, Vos' suggestion make perfect sense to our Republican Authority.

2 comments:

  1. Vos knows as much about the Wisconsin Constitution as the average Republican state legislator: amendments need the approval of both houses either side of a general election, so the earliest that any new amendment could conceivably take effect would be Spring 2015.

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  2. I believe the bigger problem is the gerrymandering of districts which reward Republicans with legislative seats out of proportion to their actual vote.

    If Democratic voters are caged into compact districts in which they represent 70%-80% of the electorate then the elimination of same day registration won't make much difference.

    In order to truly lower voter turnout Republicans will also need to eliminate early voting. Look for this move first.

    Assuming the corrupt, Prosserized state Supreme Court authorizes the voter ID law and the other two roadblocks have been put in place, then tens of thousands of voters will need to make three trips in order to exercise their rights: One trip to DMV for a new ID showing their current address, a second trip to the county courthouse to register and then a third to vote, at which point they will have to wait in line for five hours. Nice, huh?

    All of which makes the spring Supreme Court election the most important in living memory.

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