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We’re reminded daily that the sheets and hoods of the Ku Klux Klan are not always the uniform of choice for individuals determined to terrorize African American citizens. Sometimes they hide behind the shield and blue of police officers; others prefer Hawaiian shirts.
As marchers seek justice for the brutal murderers of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Joel Acevedo and countless others, we shouldn’t lose sight of operatives in business suits working behind the scenes to steal the voting franchise from African Americans in Wisconsin, spending limitless budgets in lawsuits rather than burning crosses on hillsides.
Suppressing African American votes has been a key Republican strategy and leading the most recent charge is the deceptively named Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty (WILL). It recruited three men from Waukesha, Ozaukee and Washington Counties to put their names on a lawsuit that attempted to remove from the voting rolls 230,000 people state-wide and 10% of the Milwaukee electorate, mainly people of color.
And their basis for throwing people off voter rolls? They may have moved to a different residence, something poor people and students do much more frequently than wealthier citizens.
The Totally Disgraceful Wisconsin Supreme Court
This disenfranchisement scheme was thrown out unanimously by an appeals court, so WILL took it to the state’s Supreme Court, which tied 3-3 when Justice Dan Kelly recused himself because he was a candidate in April to stay on the court.
Despite Kelly losing decisively to progressive Judge Jill Karofsky, the right-wing activist majority of the Wisconsin Supreme Court has decided to reconsider the case, apparently rushing to throw voters off the rolls before August 1 when Kelly turns his seat over to Karofsky.
Although the number of voters that would be removed is now down to 129,000 after a spurt of spring election registrations, the GOP activists on the court know how crucial stealing those votes could be to keep Trump in the White House: he only won Wisconsin by 22,000 votes in 2016.
That’s Just One Attack on Our Democracy
This is just the latest front in the Wisconsin Republicans’ all-out war to ensure electoral victory by disenfranchising black, poor and student voters.
First, Governor Walker and Republican legislators rammed through one of the most restrictive voter ID laws in the nation, which led to a significant decline in black and Democratic votes in Wisconsin for the 2016 presidential election.
That same law made it more difficult for college students to vote by restricting the use of college IDs. It also moved the fall primary elections from September to early August to further suppress college student voters. Finally, Republicans restricted early voting hours and changed laws regarding absentee balloting in order to make it more difficult for people who work more than one job to get to the polls.
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Ruled Unconstitutional by a Federal Judicial Panel
The next step for GOP operatives was to gerrymander the state to ensure electoral victories. The extremely partisan legislative maps were drawn not in the legislature but behind closed doors by a conservative law firm. Then Attorney Dan Kelly—yes, that same Dan Kelly_represented the GOP in defending the gerrymandering, leading Walker to reward him with an appointment to the Supreme Court when a justice retired.
Only Republicans were involved in reviewing the maps, and to prevent public scrutiny, every GOP legislator was required to sign a non-disclosure agreement. A federal judicial panel ruled the gerrymandered districts were unconstitutional and now it is on appeal before the US Supreme Court. Wisconsin taxpayers got the $3.5 million bill for legal work that was 100% partisan.
This gerrymandering packed African Americans in as few districts as possible to dilute the impact of their votes. Now, with redistricting required again in 2021, WILL has just petitioned their comrades on the court’s majority to set new rules to allow that Republican court majority to settle the certain disputes that will ensue between Governor Evers and legislative Republicans, rather than the current system that ensures compromise between the parties.
After this activist court made Wisconsin the only state in the union voting in person at the height of the pandemic, there is no doubt it would rule again for Republicans.
They Don’t Even Try to Hide their Motivations
And Republicans don’t even try very hard to hide their motivation. In January Evers proposed a Fair Election Map Coalition, but GOP Assembly Speaker Robin Vos rejected the idea even before Evers released details. In December, a Trump advisor proudly referenced the GOP’s voter suppression history in a speech to the Wisconsin Republican Lawyers Association.
Groups like WILL and their Republican funders may not wear hoods or carry torches, but they’re attempting to steal elections by disenfranchising groups of voters who do not support their agenda of austerity economics, tax cuts for the rich, attacks on public education, and trying to stop any public policy that challenges our gross economic inequality.
Peaceful demonstrators throughout Wisconsin are proving we don’t have to take these attacks on justice and democracy sitting down.
As we march for police reform and justice, we must also demand that all future elections provide extensive early voting, neighborhood-based same day voting, accessible ballot drop boxes, as well as robust register-to-vote and absentee ballot programs.
Dr. Michael Rosen (Economics) and Charlie Dee (American Studies) are retired professors from Milwaukee Area Technical College and leaders of American Federation of Teachers Local 212.
