Blatant voter-suppression tactics at work in Wisconsin

Blatant voter-suppression tactics at work in Wisconsin

A barrage of dirty tactics have emerged over the last 24 hours to suppress voter turnout in Wisconsin's recall vote of Gov. Walker. These include:

• Robocalls to voters informing them they don't have to vote, if they signed a recall petition.
  
• Mailers and Robocalls informing voters they can't vote in the recall election unless they also voted in the 2010 election.
  
• Door-to-door canvassers informing voters they don't need to bother voting if they signed a petition.
  
• Robocalls and Mailers giving out the incorrect date for voting.

This is only the latest in dirty voter-suppression tactics that have come out of Wisonsin, coming on the heels of the previous round of voter-suppression which included robocalls, mailers, and canvassers giving out incorrect dates of recall elections, incorrect addresses to return forms/ballots, and even fielding "fake" candidates. (posted on ATS as Koch-Backed Group Accused of Voter Suppression In Wisconsin Recall Elections)

This latest round of voter fraud has attracted the attention of the Department of Justice which declared it will monitor the elections. Will it actually do any good?

In Wisconsin, reports of voter suppression efforts

(CBS News) As voters head to the polls Tuesday to decide the fate of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, reports out of the state suggest that robocalls are being placed informing voters, falsely, they don't have to vote if they signed the recall petition.

There have also been reports of mailings going out to voters telling them they can't vote unless they did so in 2010, and of people going door-to-door telling voters they don't have to go to the polls if they signed the recall petition, both of which are also untrue.

Barrett Campaign Sounds Warning On Vote-Suppression Calls

I'm in our situation room right now and I have an urgent update about the state of the race on the ground. Reports coming into our call center have confirmed that Walker’s allies just launched a massive wave of voter suppression calls to recall petition signers. Here is what people are receiving across Wisconsin:

"If you signed the recall petition, your job is done and you don’t need to vote on Tuesday."

Repor ts of Voter Suppression in Wisconsin--Robocalls Targeting Recall Petition Signers

It's to be expected, of course--an election as important as the recall of Scott Walker in Wisconsin today will have some dirty tricks happening.

But this one's especially nasty. Tom Barrett's campaign announced that there's been a wave of robocalls targeting the people who signed the petition to recall Walker, telling them they've already voted by signing the petition and should stay home on Tuesday. (Over a million people signed the recall petitions.)

Josh Eidelson reported:

Last night I talked to a Wisconsin voter who says she received just such a robo-call. Carol Gibbons told me she picked up the phone and heard a male voice saying "thank you for taking this call," and that "if you signed the recall petition, you did not have to vote because that would be your vote." After hearing the vote-suppressing message, said Gibbons, "I wanted to take the phone and throw it in the middle of the road." Gibbons is a retired public employee and a staunch Walker opponent. If he wins the recall, she warned, "He’s going to roll over us like pieces of dirt. He’s going to say, 'They voted for me twice – I can do whatever I want.'"

Allegations of "voter caging"
Media ignores story of alleged voter suppression effort by the Tea Party (Video)

One Wisconsin Now is claiming that the Tea Party and Americans for Prosperity (a corporate-funded group which helps finance the Tea Party) are purposefully engaging in a voter suppression effort called "voter caging." To support their claims, One Wisconsin Now has produced documents from a Tea Party meeting, along with an audio clip of the meeting. In the audio, "Grandsons of Liberty" leader Tim Dake describes the strategy the Tea Party, Republican Party, and Americans for Prosperity plan to implement,

"One of the things we’re going to do is take these addresses that people give and we want to send out a postcard that says, 'You need to call and confirm this. And if you haven’t called, well then it could get tossed out.' We’re also looking for when you send these cards out is they’ll come back if it is an undeliverable address."

That particular practice of sending out direct mailings is very suspect, as it could cause many voters to think they have been disqualified from voting because they did not respond to the postcard sent out by private parties. Many voters may simply discard or ignore the postcard. Then they will be told by others, possibly the Tea Party, that their non-response disqualifies them from voting. In fact, the postcard has no legal significance, but that is not what is stated in the proposed postcard.

The level of apathy in protecting our right to vote while special interest groups do everything they can to steal elections is appalling.

If true, than people should be held to applicable laws for any alleged wrong doing but....

There have also been reports of mailings going out to voters...

If this in fact true, where are these mailers? Why not pull them out for the whole of the state and the media to run with it rather than saying it might be happening?!

ETA: I find it all ironic. When solutions (albeit maybe not perfect) are shot down and proclaim "Show me the fraud!" and then the tables turn and there are floods of calls of "voter fraud"..... and the puppeteer prances off into the sunset....

reply to post by Blackmarketeer


The BIG question is who is doing this? The true answer might not be who people suspect.

Due to higher than expected voter turnout, the election will be held over a two-day period. Registered Republicans should vote on Tuesday, June 5 and registered Democrats should vote on Wednesday, June 6. Thank you for your cooperation.

reply to post by Blackmarketeer

The level of apathy in protecting our right to vote while special interest groups do everything they can to steal elections is appalling.

This is the state that invited in millions of out-of-state union $$ and "activists" to drum-up support for recall elections that the majority of residents never supported.

This is the state that allowed patently false union claims of disenfranchisement despite open polls and advertising that hindered no one at getting out their message,

This is a thread vased entirely upon hearsay, slander and unsupported claims from a group that cares only for its own benefit.

Please show the voters how union give-aways benefit the people of Wisconsin.
Please show how any of the alleged tactics complained of come from anywhere other than the union and "progressive" playbooks.

Time to face the music - the people are about to speak for themselves. Of course, that is the last thing you want.

jw

It shouldn't be surprising to anyone
as to who is behind voter suppression .

It's Koch Bro money and Karl Roves' brain.

Why anyone would say "Yep that Scott Walker,
he's my man, he's definitely looking out for my best interest."
is beyond me.

The Democrats were out spent 25 to 1.
Really it's the citizens of Wisc against
two oil billionaires who inherited every cent
of their empire. You know, the American Dream.

reply to post by Blackmarketeer


Voter suppression is indeed a horrible thing. You forgot to mention most convictions in that regard come from the Democratic Party, but hey why talk facts

The real story is the insanity of having a Recall because your candidate lost and the one who won did exactly what he said he would do. That is insane on it's face.

This is pure Chicago Style Union crap. Both the State and the Feds are monitoring.

One thing all this in Wisconsin has shown is exactly how far Unions are willing to go to control politicians and the country. You would think that over half their members quitting when given the chance would have sent home the point that people don't like being controlled by thugs.

Is this the new norm. A politician loses an election they demand a recall? The Left is becoming completely disgusting and I'm not even a Republican. Wanna-be Dictators, the whole lot of them. They named themselves the Democrats but hate Democracy unless they win. Sad how the progressive nuts took over the once great Party I was glad to be a part of. Now I'd not give them the time of day.

reply to post by jdub297


Repeating a lie doesn't make it true. The big out-of-state money is going to Walker's coffers.

Gov. Scott Walker's Big Money Backers Include 13 Out-Of-State Billionaires

If Scott Walker wins Tuesday’s recall election, he’ll have 14 of America’s richest people to thank.

Wisconsin’s Governor has out-raised opponent Tom Barrett, the Mayor of Milwaukee, by almost 10 to one: $30.5 million to Barrett’s $3.9 million. Of that huge haul, $1.68 million — or, almost half Barrett’s total — came from 14 members of the Forbes billionaires list, all but one of whom live outside Wisconsin.

Walker's Unprecedented Out-of-State Contributions Alarming

Madison -- The just-released campaign finance report for Gov. Scott Walker is not only awash in millions of dollars of out-of-state money, but also 187 new violations of campaign finance disclosure rules for failing to include employer information for more than $41,000 in contributions.

“Scott Walker intends to win this election with huge donations from a nationwide cabal of corporate, anti-middle class extremists,” said Scot Ross, One Wisconsin Now Executive Director. “No state candidate in the history of Wisconsin has gotten so much money from such a small number of wealthy donors.”

Walker’s report shows he amassed $4.87 million in individual contributions, 49 percent of which, or $2.39 million, came from out of state contributions. One Wisconsin Now analysis of his report shows:

• Massive concentration of high dollar donations: While Walker has more than 46,900 individual contributions, he raised $2,247,688 from those giving mega-donations of $1,000 and above. This top 1.3 percent of individual givers donated 46 percent of Walker’s total itemized individual money. In fact, Walker has used the unlimited campaign finance restrictions on individual donations to amass $1,210,000 from a mere 41 contributors. This means 25 percent of Walker’s individual money came from 0.00087 percent of his donors.
  
• Massive amounts of out of state money: Walker not only took nearly 50 percent of his individual money from out of state, his top four donors totaling $550,000, came from outside of Wisconsin. Of Walker’s largest 655 contributions of $1,000 and above, 53 percent of the money from these contributions, or $1,196,600 is from outside of Wisconsin.
  
• Violations of reporting requirements: Walker failed to report employment information for $41,644 in 187 contributions above $100 in violation of campaign finance reporting laws. This does not include the unprecedented $154,781 in “unitemized contributions,” which include no information. Walker previously was previously the subject of a Government Accountability Board complaint for failing to disclose the employment information for over $500,000 in 1,100 contributions in violation of the law. hxxp://www.onewisconsinnow.org/press/walker-goes-over-500000-in-improperly-reported-contributions.html

“As hundreds of thousands of Wisconsin men, women and children rose up against Walker’s extremism, the governor and his right wing, pro-corporate lackeys labeled them ‘outside agitators,’” said Ross. “Walker’s unprecedented out-of-Wisconsin cash grab should end that phony claim, once and for all.”

Considering Walker’s huge advantage in out-of-state money, why is the election likely to be close?

Scott Walker Getting Nearly Half His Donations from Out-of-State While Decrying Out-of-State Money

Half of Scott Walker's Cash Comes From Out-of-State Dark-Money Donors

It's not surprising, then, to learn that out-of-state money is pouring into the Walker recall at a record pace—and it's powering the efforts of Democrats, Republicans, interest groups, and unions alike.

In Wisconsin's 2006 gubernatorial election, as the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports, out-of-state campaign donations made up 15 percent of all donations. In 2010 it was 9 percent. But in the Walker recall? It's a staggering 57 percent.

Scott Walker's Out-of-State Money

reply to post by Blackmarketeer


Still waiting for images of these supposed mailers. I mean, I can understand people saying they got a phone call -- we normally don't record our phone calls. I can understand people saying they were "visited" with door-to-door tactics -- again, we don't video tape our every minute of our life.

But mailers? If they were mailed, why hasn't someone sent it to the media, taken a picture of it, exposed it for the world to see?!

Originally posted by Blackmarketeer
Blatant voter-suppression tactics at work in Wisconsin

Blatant voter-intimidation and invasion of privacy by democrats in Wisconsin -

Political Mailing Causes Outrage Among Voters

I was outraged. It’s my private information and it’s being sent to everybody all over the neighborhood,” Eric Zimmerman, who received the mailing at his New Berlin home said Monday — one day before voters take to the polls in Wisconsin’s recall election. The mailing tells Zimmerman’s neighbors he voted in November 2008 and again in 2010.

People throughout the state are blogging and complaining about the organization that sent the mailing. It’s called the Greater Wisconsin Political Fund. It’s a Madison-based group with Democratic and labor ties. The mailer contains a United Steel Workers logo in the corner.

The group’s website says after the June 5th election, public records will tell everyone who voted and who didn’t. The site urges people to vote.

That's invasion of privacy and intimidation of voters.

This latest round of voter fraud has attracted the attention of the Department of Justice which declared it will monitor the elections. Will it actually do any good?

Eric Holder and the Department of Justice? The same people who let the New Black Panthers get away with racist voter intimidation - weapons and all - in Phladelphia? He'll only step in if it benefits the democrats to do so.

Wisconsin Voters Suffer in Endless Political Warfare

The Dems are just pissed that most of the party members aren't smart enough to follow the Long & Established voting rules that existed prior to this "little vote".

The Dems have worked so hard only to come up way short...... So, what should we do, what should we do?

A pre-attack. Make a few phone calls and then make baseless claims that the Republicans are doing it-with no proof of course, But, better to cloud the waters early so they can claim the loss they are about to have was not fair. etc.

CRY ME A RIVER fools..... The Dems will soon realize (Like Big Dem Ed Rendell)-starting this whole recall issues was wrong and foolish. It appears to have backfired on them AND will make it worse for the Nov 2012 election.

So, until so unless so creditable evidence comes up that Republicans actually did this.... Put in the pile next to the New Black Panther party harassing people at voting locations!!!

Originally posted by BlackmarketeerThe level of apathy in protecting our right to vote while special interest groups do everything they can to steal elections is appalling.

Agreed. I can't believe how blase' the Democrats are to protecting the integrity of the voting process. All they care is how many votes they get to further their progressive, oppressive agenda, so they couldn't care less how many non-American citizens vote for them.

Now, if the federal government would issue their own voter ID cards, to U.S. citizens only, at no cost to the citizenry, then the Democrats' idiotic spewing that voter ID "disenfranchises" the poor and minorities would be completely irrelevant.

But it would also mean that only U.S. citizens could vote for U.S. interests, which scares the hell out of Democrats.

/TOA

I assume that this will be repeated, nearly word for word, at the Presidential election, especially if the advance polls show Romney ahead as they show Walker ahead in Wisconsin.

The biggest question on my mind is whether these charges will be amplified and reapeated like the Martin-Zimmerman case, getting the losers of the election so riled up that we have riots and demonstrations, possibly martial law.

reply to post by charles1952


I think this years election will prove to provide the perfect set up civil unrest. If and when Obama looses there will be riots. If Rommney looses there will be the same accusations of fraud. And any massive unrest will be met by over whelming force.

Hmmm

Blatant voter-suppression tactics at work in Wisconsin

Gotta call Bs the DOJ is there making sure everything is "fair".

This is typical and expected unethical behavior of Dems.
They can't win, so now they will intentionally sabotage the election and attempt to frame the other side.

reply to post by ownbestenemy


AFP Wisconsin ballots have late return date

Americans for Prosperity is sending absentee ballots to Democrats in at least two Wisconsin state Senate recall districts with instructions to return the paperwork after the election date.

The fliers, obtained by POLITICO, ask solidly Democratic voters to return ballots for the Aug. 9 election to the city clerk "before Aug. 11."

A Democrat on the ground in Wisconsin said the fliers were discovered to be hitting doors in District 2 and District 10 over the weekend.

"These are people who are our 1's in the voterfile who we already knew. They ain't AFP members, that's for damn sure," the source said.

Question: why is a "conservative" SuperPAC like "Americans for Prosperity" mailing absentee ballots only to democratic voters? Absentee ballots that just happen to have the incorrect return address and the incorrect election date, two days AFTER the close of the election (Aug. 11 instead of Aug. 9)?

PDF version of AFP ballot



This guy is filing an FEC complaint over the fake mailers;
North Hudson Man Files Voter Suppression Complaint Against Americans For Prosperity

Koch Brothers-funded “Americans For Prosperity” (AFP) behind deceptive Wisconsin Recall mailer

Rahm Emanuel is making similiar public pension cuts as Gov. Scott Walker but the media would prefer to chase ghostly rumors and hate-filled accusations against a conservative instead of reporting responsible news.
It shouldn't matter which way a person leans politically, all parties are being used like fools. Until there is a consensus holding the media responsible for their hate baiting and lies, stories like this will continue to be one sided.
The pro union voters know its time cast their vote, no one is supressing them.

Originally posted by Blackmarketeer
Question: why is a "conservative" SuperPAC like "Americans for Prosperity" mailing absentee ballots only to democratic voters? Absentee ballots that just happen to have the incorrect return address and the incorrect election date, two days AFTER the close of the election (Aug. 11 instead of Aug. 9)?

What does this 10+ month old postcard have to do with the current topic of voter intimidationsuppression? I'm not getting that connection. Are you saying the recall election was last fall? And we all missed it? Crap.

reply to post by Blackmarketeer


I've been following this one for a long time on talk radio. Even before Walker was elected.

What "reality" do those who support Walker and the Koch brothers live in?

Do they hate Dems so much - - they just don't care what's actually going on?