Sunday, October 2, 2016

Voter Suppression Continues in Wisconsin


Rethuglican attempts to deny voters IDs in order to steal elections is continuing in Wisconsin. Their Governor, failed Presidential hopeful and  Scott "Have A Koch" Walker and his Department of Motor Vehicles are either denying or dragging their feet in issuing State-approved IDs to Wisconsin minority group members and students around Milwaukee, Madison, and Green Bay. The IDs were approved by the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals on the condition that the State would make those IDs accessible to all eligible voters.  Federal District Judge James Peterson has ordered the State to investigate rampant reports of voter suppression in the failure to issue IDs, and to report back to the Court by October 7.

This is a huge matter, because approximately 9 percent (or 300,000) of registered voters don't have a valid voter ID, the vast majority of whom rely on public transportation if they are low income and don't have a car, or are out-of-state students residing in Wisconsin but without a Wisconsin drivers' license. The Court should hold Walker and responsible State officials in contempt of the Appellate Court's order, as well as striking down the voter ID law itself.  In America, voters should choose who represents them, not the other way around.

BONUS:  If it's not Rethuglican officials themselves trying to suppress the Democratic vote, it's their neo-fascist demagogue candidate, Donald "Rump" Trump, who has taken to encourage his thuggish supporters to form vigilante groups on election day to "watch" voting. His latest scurrilous suggestion was yesterday in Pennsylvania:
"You’ve got to go out. And you’ve got to get your friends. And you’ve got to get everyone you know. And you got to watch your polling booths, because I hear too many stories about Pennsylvania. Certain areas." (italics supplied)
Hmm, "certain areas," wonder what that means. And "watch your polling booths?" If that's not intimidation, then Rump's perfectly sane.

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