Republicans don’t understand why densely populated areas need more time to give more people a chance to vote...or they're faking it.

For whatever reason, the Journal Sentinel finds value in the ramblings of simpleton conservative columnist Christian Schneider, whose clichéd observations are supposed to represent an actual viewpoint of our current political environment. Yawn.

Perhaps Schneider’s color-by-number talking points make it so much easier for conservative readers to get the picture.

Thanks to Schneider’s cheap shot column, “Democrats are their own priority,” we can see how quickly Republicans have exploited the lazy media’s pass on the dumb one-size-fits-all early voting limits statewide. It doesn't make any sense. Never mind that Republicans hate one-size-fits-all regulations and are always whining about needing more local control.

“…last week's hysterical eruption by Wisconsin Senate Democrats shows us that they are willing to spend their limited capital on the only thing that matters to them: getting Democrats in power."

This one point kills me. I bet you didn't know Democrats are not supposed to campaign, accept funding, or push their populist agenda during the election season.  

   

Faked Cluelessness: To sell the false premise that early voting hours must be the same everywhere in the state, Republican have to come across like they don’t understand why densely populated areas need more time to give more people a chance to vote. Even conservative newspaper editorial boards are screaming bloody murder over this transparent attempt at Democratic voter suppression in Milwaukee and Madison.

Schneider must be stupid…

On Tuesday, the state Senate took up … a bill that would set uniform hours for polling places during early voting periods; generally, communities such as Milwaukee and Madison that have more government resources are able to keep their clerks' offices open on weekends, giving their voters more of a chance to vote than in rural areas. The GOP argued that this gave heavily Democratic areas an unfair advantage and that uniformity in polling hours would eliminate the distortion this causes. This sent Senate Democrats into an absurd tantrum.

Giving more people more time to vote is a “distortion?”  

Cheap rural Communities: Let’s face it, if rural communities thought voting was important, they would find a way to pay for it. Forgotten by Schneider was the opposition by those closest to this “problem,” the Wisconsin Municipal Clerks Associations:

Diane Hermann-Brown, president of the Wisconsin Municipal Clerks Association, wondered about the practical effect of having her staff turn away absentee ballots while accepting dog licenses and handling other duties … (or) what would clerks do if absentee voters are still in line at 5 p.m. Sun Prairie had an hour and a half wait among absentee voters at 5 p.m. on the Friday before the November election. The bigger the city, the longer the travel time to get to the city clerk's office."

Or the Wisconsin Towns Association:

Richard Stadelman, executive director of the Wisconsin Towns Association said the proposal could be even more vexing for clerks in small towns, who often work part-time and at the convenience of local residents. He said his group opposes the bill as written.

Schneider doesn't get complexity or the overwhelming opposition to a statewide standard. Instead he's projecting that it’s all about getting elected, and it offers him another chance to take a few cheap shots, like:

The last time the state saw such a cavalcade of buffoonery was during the Capitol protests of 2011 … the Senate Democrats' most ridiculous procedural act last week was trying to pull a bill to the floor that would change the way Wisconsin redraws legislative districts.

It’s just a glimpse at what Republican control looks like; jaw dropping disrespect for a citizen’s right to protest their government, which they don't take seriously, and reform for what has become an extreme act of secret partisan redistricting. Authoritarian much?