A Republican legislator is circulating bills thatwould make it more difficult to vote in Wisconsin.
This time, state Sen. Glenn Grothman (R-West Bend)is trying to limit voting by early, in-person absentee voters and impose newrequirements on those helping residents living in assisted living facilities tovote. A third bill would weaken big-money donors’ disclosure requirements.
“This is part of a larger and continuing effort onthe part of Republicans to restrict voting by the people they don’t want tocast a ballot,” said Mike Browne, deputy director of the watchdog group OneWisconsin Now (OWN).
OWN found that despite the Republicans’ charges thatwidespread voter fraud was plaguing Wisconsin’s elections, fewer than two dozenpeople have been convicted of voter fraud since 2004. More than 14 millionvotes were cast during that time.
Despite the paltry 0.0000017% conviction rate,Republicans continue to spread the myth of “widespread voter fraud” and arepressing on with proposals that would solve this so-called problem. In reality,their solutions would merely disenfranchise voters who are more likely to castballots for Democrats.
That motivation became crystal clear when state Sen.Alberta Darling (R-River Hills) stated that Republican presidential candidateMitt Romney would have won Wisconsin last fall if the nation’s most restrictivevoter ID had been in place on Election Day. When requested by OWN, Darlingcouldn’t provide documentation of the 200,000 illegally cast ballots that wouldhave swung the election to the Republicans.
The voter ID requirement, authored by Rep. JeffStone (R-Greendale), is currently tied up in the courts and has not beenimplemented.
Big Donors Would Be Protected
Despite the fact that Democratic candidates for the state Assemblywon almost 200,000 more votes across the state than their Republican rivalslast November, Republicanshave a commanding 60-39 majority in the state Assembly as a result of theGOP-drawn legislative map that kicked in last year.
But the Republicans’ gerrymandered map won’t helpRepublican Gov. Scott Walker in the 2014 gubernatorial election, should hedecide to run, since obviously itdoesn’t affect statewide races.
That may be why Republicans have stepped up theirattack on the right to vote.
Just before Memorial Day, Republican AssemblymanStone had circulated a sweeping, 77-page bill that would implement a newversion of voter ID, restrict voting rights, and weaken financial disclosurerequirements, among other things. A pared-down version passed the Assembly onJune 12 but the Senate hasn’t touched it.
Grothman’s bills, which he is circulating forcosponsors, take up where Stone left off and would:
- Restrictin-person absentee voting before elections: Republicans had already shortened thetimeframe for early, in-person voting, but Grothman would further limit it toweekdays between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. and eliminate weekend balloting. The billwould also change the number of hours a municipal clerk’s office must be openfrom at least 24 hours per week to no more than 24 hours a week. Grothman wouldalso allow representatives of the two “recognized political parties” to observethe receipt of the early ballots.
Grothman told the Shepherd he wanted to make early voting hours standard around thestate, since residents of small townships are more likely to travel fardistances to the polls than residents of large cities like Milwaukee.
President Barack Obama has successfully used earlyvoting to ensure that inconsistent voters—such as low-income voters, minorityvoters, students and new voters—and those who cannot easily vote on ElectionDay can cast a ballot. Election workers, including officials in Milwaukee,encourage early voting as a way to reduce lines and confusion on Election Day.Last November, more than 36,000 Milwaukee residents voted early, up from 31,000in 2008.
“The Republicans’ strategy is to make it moreconfusing and difficult to vote,” Browne said. “There are people who GlennGrothman doesn’t want to vote.”
- Impose newrequirements on absentee voting in residential facilities: Instead of providing a24-hour notice, those helping residents of a nursing home or other residentialfacility to vote would have to give a 72-hour notice and post that noticeonline. Grothman said he’s heard “anecdotal evidence of abuses” of voting inresidential facilities.
- Weaken bigdonors’ contribution disclosure: Currently, campaigns must file finance reports thatinclude the occupation and employer of those donating more than $100 per year.Grothman would increase that to $500 donors, thus removing that requirementfrom donors of up to $499 per year.
“Those are significant contributions,” Browne said.
In 2010, OWN filed a complaint with the GovernmentAccountability Board alleging that Gov. Scott Walker’s campaign violated the$100 reporting requirement more than 650 times in 2009 and 2010, with 659donations totaling $234,920 that lacked employer information.
Grothman blamed the unions for his effort to raisethe disclosure limit because the unions had attempted to boycott employers ofbig donors to Republican campaigns, which the senator called “horribly meanspirited.”
