Judge Peterson on DMV Voter ID Suppression: "Disturbing pattern...state is willing to take minimal effort unless compelled (by) litigation.

Now that we have a totally partisan elections board, few Wisconsinites will take seriously actual problems raised by a few “minority” Democratic members, as long as we have a Republican administration. 

The actual problem was predictable, and pretty simple:

The advocacy group VoteRiders showed Division of Motor Vehicles offices statewide gave inaccurate information to people seeking IDs to vote in November.

That's when the normally rabid Republican preoccupation with electoral integrity disappeared completely.

And that's when a federal judge took immediate action September 30th:

Judge James Peterson ordered the state to “investigate these allegations and provide a report to the court by Oct. 7,” which would include “any corrective action to be taken.”

As expected, Scott Walker’s embarrassing AG lackey Brad Schimel said he didn't see what VoteRiders saw and recorded:

Two Democratic state election commissioners, Mark Thomsen and Ann Jacobs, in a newly released letter to a federal judge, accuse GOP Attorney General Brad Schimel’s Department of Justice, representing the state in the case, of misleading the court in a report submitted Friday. 

In that report, the DOJ said it found no additional problems with how DMVs were handling voter ID in addition to what was previously reported … The DOJ also described state efforts to publicize the petition process as “robust” — which Thomsen and Jacobs dispute in their letter. They note the Elections Commission, the state agency overseeing elections, has gotten no new funding to publicize the petition process.

Federal Judge James Peterson had a few things to say about that at this mornings hearing. Here are a number of reporters tweets during the hearing:

Judge Peterson: "pretty clear" state of WI fell short on obligations for #voterID process at least through September … #voterID training for WI DMV workers was "manifestly inadequate," additional training added recently a "welcome improvement … The WI DMV (was) not communicating to voters what they need to get an ID.

The state is willing to take minimal efforts unless it is compelled to do so because of this litigation. Judge tells #WI DOJ "disturbing pattern here, state only responds to litigation when the problems were entirely predictable" … Judge Peterson says he's inclined to keep voter ID law in place, says he's not sure he has authority to knock it down anyway.

BONUS: Who Would Have Guessed - "Anecdotal Evidence" Voter Fraud is Rampant in NYC: Just for fun, I had to pass on this wonderfully over-the-top, evidence free declaration that NYC is going voter fraud crazy. Not surprisingly, every nonsensical stereotype is listed by a voter ID supporting disgruntled "Democrat." I almost can't remember all the times Republicans said voter ID will help their candidates win...

The conservative nonprofit group Project Veritas has released an undercover video of a Manhattan Democratic representative on the city’s Board of Elections Alan Schulkin ... Footage released Tuesday shows him blasting fraud that New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s municipal ID program has cultivated in the city.

“He gave out ID cards, de Blasio. That’s in lieu of a driver’s license, but you can use it for anything. But they didn’t vet people to see who they really are. Anybody can go in there and say, ‘I am Joe Smith, I want an ID card. It’s absurd. There is a lot of fraud. Not just voter fraud, all kinds of fraud … This is why I get more conservative as I get older.”

"Certain neighborhoods in particular” have unregistered voters bused around the city to vote multiple times ... when prompted on minority areas he replied, “Yeah, and Chinese, too. Your vote isn’t really counting, because they can go [into the polling station] with a burqa on and you don’t know if they are a voter. Your vote gets discounted because they come in with a burqa on and they can vote.”

Mr. Schulkin told the Post for its story that he should have said “potential fraud” instead of “fraud,” and that he was “just trying to placate” the Project Veritas employee when they met. “She was like a nuisance,” he told the newspaper.

Republicans Gone Wild: Why are they trashing public safety for Freedom to die sooner.

I still can't believe conservative voters think the following two irresponsible ideas make any sense at all. Who even asked for this?

Or nearly blind drivers...a 74 year old won't need an eye test until they're 90!!!

Walker blocks conservative rural voters from getting voter ID's.

I like it; a little Democratic reverse psychology working against Scott Walker. Yes!!! And Scott Walker is saying no, as usual, to keeping the rural DMV's open longer for voter ID's.

If I had my way, I would let the rural areas suffer and drift away under the voter suppression efforts put in place by Walker and his band of pirates. Walker has short changed rural families and farmers (except for a major tax cut) since he became governor.

Since Democrats would like longer DMV hours, Walker is blocking that, saying it’s a solution looking for a problem. Yea, like voter fraud? I digress.

But unlike the Democrats, I say leave these predominantly Republican voters alone. After all, they think only Democrats are the targets. Fine with me. From WKOW's Greg Neumann:

Are the Democrats using reverse psychology knowing Walker would instinctively say no way? I’m hoping.

35 Democratic lawmakers say people who live in the country won't have the same opportunity to get a photo ID by November 4th as people living in more populated areas, and they're asking the Wisconsin Department of Transportation to fix that.

In Jefferson County, there are two Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV) offices.  The office in Watertown is open two days a week, while the one in Fort Atkinson is open just two days a month. "Right now, under these conditions, I'm sure there are going to be a lot of people who aren't gonna acquire that ID and aren't gonna be able to vote.  And that's just wrong," said Rep. Andy Jorgensen (D-Milton).

More than 40 counties have DMV centers that are open two days a week or less. 

Rep. Jorgensen said,  "Let's do some mobile DMV centers to places we know that we need to get to because there are people that need our help." 

Here’s the interesting thing; our incidental governor is keenly aware of how many people are turning out to get voter ID’s. How would he know that, and why? We know why, don’t we:

But Gov. Scott Walker says that's a solution in search of a problem. "I think you're gonna hear a lot of talk about it, but in the end, we've actually seen fewer people seeking free ID's recently than we've seen in the past couple years. There's no barrier.  That's a lot of hype and hysteria by some on the left."

Think the governor is counting on "fewer people seeking free ID's?" And who's “the left?” “The left,” as a pejorative, is how Walker views his enemies. 

Still, I'm with Walker. Don't keep those DMV's open any longer than a few days a week.