I'm talking about (way back) in 2012, when Wisconsin voters ignored home boy Paul Ryan (R)'s presence on the presidential ballot and gave the state to President Obama instead. That was when Wisconsin could boast of generous early voting rules and same day registration...all things of the past now. Since November 2012, Wisconsin Republicans have sent several restrictive voter bills to the governor's office for his signature. They have reduced the number of hours state offices are open per week for early voting, eradicated weekend early voting hours completely and eliminated evening voting after 7:00 PM and same day registration--all in an effort to keep elections fraud free, of course. The GOP offered no actual evidence of voter fraud, so it seems they have managed to solve a problem that didn't actually exist.
And still their work continues: Last week, the Republican dominated legislature went a step further and sent yet another new voter-centric law to the Governor's desk. Following the negative response to their previous voting bills, this time, the Governor signed the bill into law in private.
The new law allows election "observers" to stand three feet from the desk where people register to vote and, on election day, to stand three feet from the table where voters announce their names and addresses and receive their ballot.
Governor Walker's office said the law was necessary to "safeguard the fairness of elections by ensuring observers can see how they are being conducted."
When some self-important stranger is standing barely outside what I consider my personal space in order to "observe" me exercise my constitutional right to vote, it doesn't look like "safeguarding" to me. It does, however, reek of intimidation.
But I can see how calling them "Election Intimidators" might not play well in Milwaukee.
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