Election Integrity a Republican Illusion exposed by Pandemic!

Integrity of the Election just more Wisconsin Republican Nonsense: Who hasn't heard over and over how concerned Republican are about the integrity of our elections, and the plethora of excuse they throw out every time they kick more people off the voter rolls or put up another convoluted voter roadblock.

Now after 10 Years of GOP Election Oversight, let's pick through rubble. It came to a head with this:

Responding to state measures intended to slow the spread of the deadly COVID-19 virus, federal Judge Conley granted Wisconsin clerks additional time to receive and tally absentee ballots,  Monday, April 13 rather than the scheduled April 7 Election Day. 

Neil Albrecht, director of the Milwaukee Election Commission, said a reversal of the judge's extension would have "tremendous consequence to voters across the state," "Any type of a reversal on that extension ... would further compromise the integrity of this election."

Election Integrity, Rube Goldberg-style, Crumbling Down: Here's what 10 years of GOP "integrity" looks like:

1. In Lodi and Pewaukee, voters were told the system for requesting absentee ballots crashed.

2. In Marshfield, Shorewood and Bristol, voters threw up their hands after spending hours in front of computers trying to request a ballot.

3. In Milwaukee and Green Bay, dozens of couples said one member of their household received a ballot while the other didn’t.

4. Brenda Lewis, a 61-year-old Delafield resident said her local clerk could find no record of her or her husband ever requesting an absentee ballot, even though both of them had.

Remember, Republicans scoffed at Gov. Evers request of a special session to delay the election: 

The special session is over with any action taken by the legislature.

Election Problems required a "Solution," an unfamiliar word to Republicans: "
JSONLINE: An investigation by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the PBS series FRONTLINE and Columbia Journalism Investigations into Wisconsin’s missing ballot crisis reveals a system leaking from all sides, buckling under the weight of a global pandemic and partisan bickering … shows the problems went far beyond postal mailing issues. People from nearly 100 Wisconsin cities and towns responded."

1. Some people received too many ballots. Some received empty envelopes. Some gave up trying to navigate the state’s request system. Others got their ballots after Election Day.

2. Three people — two in Mequon and one in West Allis — said they were mailed duplicate ballots. In Wauwatosa, one couple said they received envelopes with no ballots.

3. In Milwaukee, three would-be voters said they received a form letter from Mayor Tom Barrett thanking them for requesting an absentee ballot — but not the ballot itself.

4. Officials sent ballots to college students to dorms they had been forced to vacate. For some Wisconsin residents wintering in New Mexico and Florida, ballots simply never showed up.

5. Nineteen Wisconsin citizens across eight cities — from New Auburn in the north to Bristol in the south — said they requested absentee ballots only to later be told the system had no record of their applications.

6. In Wisconsin’s decentralized election system, much of the responsibility falls on local clerks, whose staffs are often tiny and not equipped to handle a surge in applications.

7. Most municipal clerks do not have access to WisVote, and must ask another official, such as a county clerk, to manually enter the applicant's information in the database.

8. “This system was designed for a world in which 5% of voters voted by mail, not for a system in which 70% of voters voted by mail,” said Charles Stewart, a political science professor and election expert at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “So something has to give, and the thing that ends up giving is probably the accuracy of the request for the ballot.”

Anyone else worried about that copy of your voter ID?

I'm wondering if "freedom and liberty" loving small government conservatives ever thought about what happens to those picture ID copies sent along with their absentee ballot?

Those seeking to vote absentee this fall will have to provide local clerks a copy of their photo ID before their ballots will be counted, GAB Director Kevin Kennedy said today.

Gee, I would hate to see a partisan election worker accidentally leave with a few copies in their pocket. Or maybe a quick smart phone pic when nobodies looking, so someone could print one out later just in time for another important election.

Spreading your ID around in the mail and left to the devices of a corrupt election official in a back room somewhere sounds like an even bigger problem than the mythical identity theft known as voter fraud.

Warm up the scanner folks, someone wants your ID...

Imaginary Wisconsin needs Laws Restricting Absentee Voting Hours.

Absentee voting has taken a bizarre surreal turn, thanks to big government Republicans living in imaginary Wisconsin. I have little doubt Republicans will somehow restrict absentee voting hours statewide, but it’s their missteps that have betrayed them, and their attempt to suppress voting.

For instance, did you know supposed "cheap" rural taxpayers didn't want to pay for expanded absentee voting hours? Well, many of them didn't know that either. In fact, rural areas have expanded hours and special weekend times too. But no one told our now embarrassed Republican legislators.

Walker Republicans fabricated a war between rural and urban areas over absentee voting hours, saying rural areas can’t afford to expand hours.

Even though it’s a choice made locally, to spend the money or not, our big government authoritarians are trying to convince people that it’s unfair to country folk to make that choice. So they drafted a law limiting hours.

That when the law ran into a buzz saw of complaints from rural and urban communities alike.

Damage control is out of Control: Our supposed grand supporters of “local control” and opponents of “one size fits all” big government regulations are proving to be big liars on both fronts. 

Embarrassed Republicans are now playing the blame game, and it’s not pretty or smart:

Republican Sen. Mary Lazich: “Despite statements by a Milwaukee talk show radio host, I never once shot down, killed, voted against, or held up Assembly Bill 54 (AB 54) relating to the standardization of times for voting by absentee ballots in person. The bill is not a senate bill. I expressed that it is unfair that some voters have much more opportunity to vote than other voters. I explained that the bill needed some work and was not ready for prime time.

The reality? 

The proposal could be even more vexing for clerks in small towns, who often work part-time and at the convenience of local residents, said Richard Stadelman, executive director of the Wisconsin Towns Association … it's not unusual for small-town clerks to open their offices on nights and weekends to accommodate in-person absentee voting. He said his group opposes the bill as written.

Lazich supports a statewide restriction on absentee voting that matches a fictional problem rural areas have when it comes to accommodating voters after hours and on weekends.

Republicans may not like any of the laws passed by Democrats to solve real problems, but writing laws that apply to problems seen in some imaginary world? We've got a big problem.

State Rep. Duey Voldemort's In-Person Absentee Voter Suppression Scheme Implodes.

It seems no matter what Republicans want to do in Wisconsin, it always costs taxpayer more money.

Follow me on this, because this whole in-person absentee ballot scheme is like the staircases in Hogwarts.

Citizen Action of Wis.

WSJ: A Republican lawmaker, Rep. Duey Stroebel, is proposing limits on the hours and days voters can cast in-person absentee ballots even as such voting increases in popularity in the state. The bill, introduced in the state Assembly late last week, would force municipalities to spend more on mail-in absentee ballots while making it harder for people to vote. Madison City Clerk Maribeth Witzel-Behl said the bill also could drive up costs … the cost of each mailed absentee ballot is $4.79 compared to 55 cents for ballots cast in person.

He looks like Voldemort, right? Oops, will I be barred from Twitter now? More wasted taxpayer money…for what? Electoral mischief? One more thing before we all start feeling a little dizzy: The bizarre limits: 

Duey without nose prosthetic's

The measure proposed by Rep. Duey Stroebel, R-Saukville, would prohibit clerks from opening early, late or on weekends to accommodate voters wishing to cast their ballots before Election Day … the bill aims to give residents of smaller communities the same access to absentee voting as those in larger communities that can afford to hold extended balloting. "To have those disparities for in-person absentee balloting is not fair … focus is on equality in the system. That's the way he views it."

This is where the wheels start falling off: 

Assembly Bill 54 would confine such in-person absentee voting to 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday in the three weeks leading up to an election week. It also would prohibit a clerk from remaining open to receive in-person ballots more than 40 hours a week.

So Stroebel’s bill hurts more than helps small towns? 

The proposal could be even more vexing for clerks in small towns, who often work part-time and at the convenience of local residents, said Richard Stadelman, executive director of the Wisconsin Towns Association … it's not unusual for small-town clerks to open their offices on nights and weekends to accommodate in-person absentee voting. He said his group opposes the bill as written.

So Stroebel’s great equalized “7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.” hourly limit, won’t work for those he says he’s trying to “help.”

Don’t laugh: 

Stroebel plans to amend the bill to add flexibility for small communities.

But that negated the reason for the bill in the first place. So we’re either back at the beginning, or Stroebel won’t let his embarrassing idiocy deter his effort to suppress voting. Rural area's will be open after normal work hours, but cities won't be?

The Hogwart's staircases make more sense than this scheme.

But the above lunacy is just one of many reasons why this is one grand waste of time and money:

Diane Hermann-Brown, president of the Wisconsin Municipal Clerks Association, said her office in the city of Sun Prairie is open 42 1/2 hours a week normally, and, by statute, 43 1/2 hours the week before an election. She 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, she said.

 … 18,752 people cast ballots at the counter she said. "The bigger the city, the longer the travel time to get to the city clerk's office."

Casting a ballot before Election Day … has become popular in Wisconsin, with more than 500,000 voters doing so in the November general election.

Republican thinks Military not motivated or responsible enough to vote!!

From the sound of this right wing Newmax story, you’d think that without “government assistance,” soldiers are not capable of casting a vote because they’re too…what? Dumb, irresponsible? Lazy?

Requests from military voters for absentee ballots have dropped significantly since 2008 — and by as much as 70 percent in Virginia and Ohio — leading a GOP senator, Jon Cornyn, to conclude that they are yet another example of how the U.S. Defense Department under President Barack Obama has failed the nation’s military. Cornyn, a Republican member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said the numbers marked a "serious failure" by the Pentagon. "This is an unacceptable failure by Pentagon leaders to comply with the law.

So conservative military types are not at fault for requesting fewer absentee ballots? It’s the party of “blame someone else.” By the way:

Cmdr. Leslie Hull-Ryde said that a similar number absentee ballots had been downloaded from the central military website the last time an incumbent president sought re-election back in 2004. "We are in complete compliance with the law," Hull-Ryde told Fox in a statement.