Republicans Just Can't Seem to Learn

The state of Wisconsin has allowed same day voter registration at polling locations since 1976. Governor Scott Walker is trying to stop this practice because he feels that “poll workers, who are wonderful volunteers…in most cases are retirees. It’s difficult for them to handle the volume of people who come at the last minute”.

what eye thynk:    Will the Republican party please grow up?! Your systematic attempts to suppress the Democratic vote didn't work.  It's time you recognized that and let it go.

Mr. Walker wants us to believe that same day voter registration is too “difficult for (retirees) to handle”. Okay, now that is insulting. Getting older doesn’t necessarily make people incompetent. I can think of a lot of incompetent 20 year olds…and most of them seem to work in my city’s government offices. Note to Mr. Walker: Don’t try to blame your voter suppression campaign on the age of your poll workers. We’re still alert enough to recognize self-serving phoniness when we hear it…and condescension doesn’t play well with us either.

Senator Glenn Grothman, Republican from West Bend, is also in favor of eliminating same day registration. “If fraud is going on, I think it will be harder to commit fraud (if we eliminate) same day registration”. The important word here is “if”.   Scot Ross, who heads the left leaning group One Wisconsin Now, answered Senator Grothman with this statement: “To date, no Republican has been able to show that there is any impersonation voter fraud and every study shows that there is no rampant voter impropriety in the state of Wisconsin or around the country”. 

It’s like the Republican party has created this great solution so they need to manufacture a problem for it.

For many years, Wisconsin has had one of the highest voter turnout rates. Much of this is attributed to the ease of same day registration in that state. On November 6, Milwaukee’s voter turnout was an amazing 87%. Of that number, 17% registered to vote that day.  You'd think that Gov. Scott would be proud of his state's voting statistics, but that doesn't play into his Republican game plan.

Statistically, those who take advantage of same day registration are largely students and the poor, both groups of people who move frequently. Wisconsin Republicans have expressed concern that these groups could easily impersonate another voter because there is no way to verify a new voter’s address. (Do they really verify the address of every voter who registers early, or do they just accept the proof the voter presents at the time…the same proof a new voter would present to same day registrars?)

Mr. Walker is so concerned about non-existent voter fraud in his state that he is also planning to re-introduce voter I.D. regulations that were shot down by federal courts for this latest election cycle. I would think that, logically, any I.D. law would render their voter impersonation paranoia moot, but logic seems to have no place in this era of winning at all costs and fairness be damned.

Personally, I think all the new voter laws that Republican run states passed, (or attempted to pass), backfired and ended up making Democrats so angry that they voted in even larger numbers than they might have if the Republicans had just left the issue alone.  Nevertheless, some right-wingers insist on continuing to ring the same bell.   For a party that sees itself as a notch above the average man, they sure are proving to be slow learners.