Thursday, May 19, 2011

Darling Lies To Voters Even As She Steals Their Rights

Even as the state senate is poised in taking the next step of passing the voter suppression bill, we learn that Senator Alberta Darling (R-Nearest Golf Course) is lying to her constituents about the bill she, along with her WISGOP colleagues, are ramming down our collective throats.

The following was forwarded to me, and is Darling's response to constituents expressing their concern about the voter suppression bill:
Dear [name redacted]: 
Thank you for contacting me with regards to Voter ID. I always appreciate hearing from constituents in the 8th Senate District. 
As you may know, 1,200 ballots in Milwaukee were cast from invalid addresses in the November 2004 election.  Also, almost 10,000 more ballots were cast than people who were counted as voting.  These statistics, despite being 6 years old, raise serious questions that undermine the validity of the entire statewide elections results. 
I would not support requiring individuals to show an identification to vote if it would disenfranchise the poor, the elderly or the disabled.  I believe most Wisconsin citizens support our election reform initiatives because it serves to secure their vote from being fraudulently cast by another. 
While it's clear we have differing opinions on this issue, I am sure there are many that we do agree on. Thank you again for contacting me and if you have any further comments or questions, do not hesitate to contact me. 
Sincerely, 
Alberta Darling
State Senator
8th Senate District
Let's first take a look at those numbers.

The 1,200 number that Darling banters about is explained by the Brennan Center for Justice:
The allegations of 1,242 votes from addresses flagged as invalid were based on a computer match of voter rolls against U.S. Postal Service and City of Milwaukee property lists, with spot checks of 40 specific addresses. In further review of 300 of the sample names, about 20% of the invalid addresses were attributed to data entry errors (e.g., “3130 S. 15th Place” became “3130 S. 15th St.,” and “S. 68th St.” became “S. 63rd St.”). At least two other addresses ostensibly deemed business locations were found to be valid residences after an individual spot-check. Furthermore, 75% of these votes were from election-day registrants, who were required to show proof of residence at the polls.Oops. Looks like it was more of an issue with poll workers dropping the ball than with fraudulent voting.
Now for the 10,000 number that Darling was flinging around, again from the Brennan Center:
The allegation that 10,921 cards could not be processed was apparently an error; 1,305 election-day registration cards from Milwaukee actually could not be processed. 548 of these listed no address, and 48 cards listed no name, but voters had to show both proof of name and proof of residence to register on election day. 236 cards had missing or incomplete dates of birth, 28 had no signature, 141 listed addresses outside of the city limits, and 23 were deemed illegible. 155 cards were not processed because they had not been given a voter number by the city. It is unclear why the remaining 126 cards could not be processed.
Also keep in mind that then US Attorney Steve Biskupic had done a thorough investigation and came up with nothing.

And now, in regards to Darling's statement that she would never vote for a bill that would disenfranchise the elderly, the disabled and/or the poor, we turn to this map of potential disenfranchised voters, via The Masses:

Click on picture to embiggen

I'm sure that it's just coincidental that the largest number of potential disenfranchised people are in Milwaukee and Dane Counties.  And I'm sure that not one of those souls that are about to lose their right to vote because of WISGOP's fear of the people are elderly, disabled or poor.(Yes, that was sarcasm, Ms. Darling.)

Finally, I would also have to point out that by treating all Wisconsinites as guilty before proven innocent does not create on single job nor does it do one darn thing about the biggest source of potential fraud - the absentee ballot.  Then again, absentee ballot fraud is a heavy handed favorite technique of Republicans, so of course their not going to touch that.

As if the simple fact that she and her Republican colleagues are about to squander millions of our tax dollars so that they can steal our very rights given to us in the Constitution to solve a problem that doesn't exist wasn't bad enough, lying to our very faces about the whole sordid affair makes it beyond tolerable.

Who's joining me in canvassing this weekend for Sandy Pasch?

3 comments:

  1. Too bad your little map shows statistics for drivers licenses. As we all know, a drivers license will not be required for voting, making your graphic wholly irrelevant. Thanks for playing.

    ReplyDelete
  2. You're correct. The reality will be much worse, if it survives the court challenge.

    ReplyDelete
  3. You know anon--your attempt to belittle the entire premise of this article is pathetic.

    Besides--it is not really a little map at all. 640x527 pixels--that is better than VGA quality.

    ReplyDelete