Governor Doyle and State Democrats Continue to Ignore the Facts on Voter Fraud

Source: Republican Party of Wisconsin



On the heels of newly released findings that voter fraud occurred during the November ‘04 elections, Governor James E. Doyle has said he is still likely to veto a bill making it a requirement to a show photo ID at the polls. Senate Bill 42, which has bi-partisan support, is a common sense measure that would reduce a person’s ability to cheat the system.

“The cases of voter intimidation, suppression and fraud stem all the way back to the elections of 2000 and nothing has been done to reform the system,” said Rick Graber, chairman of the Republican Party of Wisconsin. “Instead of getting better, the system has gotten worse.”

According to a report released this month by the American Center for Voting Rights Legislative Fund, a national non-partisan, non-profit group, Democrats routinely accuse Republicans of voter intimidation and suppression, but paid Democratic operatives were more likely than their Republican counterparts to engage in such activities.

Among the list of abuses:

• Democratic workers in Milwaukee gave homeless men packs of cigarettes in exchange for absentee votes on Election Day 2000
• Paid Democratic operatives were charged with slashing tires of 25 Republican get-out-the-vote vans on Election Day 2004
• Four Project Vote workers were charged with felony convictions for filling out voter-registration cards using fictitious information

In addition, an ongoing federal-local investigation into the Milwaukee 2004 elections found hundreds of felon and double voters and thousands more ballots cast than voters recorded as having voted in the city. Yesterday, RPW handed the results of their own investigation over to federal authorities that show highly suspect cases of people voting twice--once in Milwaukee and once in the city to which they filed a change of address.

“Despite the mounting evidence of fraud, intimidation and suppression, Doyle touts a reform package that addresses administrative problems but does nothing to eliminate the real cases of abuse,” said Graber. “Thousands of voters were disenfranchised in our elections due to fraud, yet he will not give support to photo ID.”

Governor Doyle has said showing a photo ID would disenfranchise the poor and elderly who do not have photo IDs. SB 42 has provisions that would provide photo IDs for those who cannot afford them and eliminates the requirement for those on the permanent absentee list.

About 3.8 million people in Wisconsin have photo IDs.

A photo ID is required to check out a book from the Milwaukee Public Library. Even the NAACP in some parts of the country require photo ID when conducting elections for its own officers. Michigan’s NAACP admitted it would be difficult to identify individuals as members with the right to vote in NAACP elections without the photo ID requirement (Willie Talton, Op-Ed, “Photo IDs’ Value Transcends Race,” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 3/21/05)

“Showing a photo ID is a common requirement in today’s society,” said Graber. “Even Governor Doyle seems to recognize that since he recently signed a bill making it a requirement to show a photo ID to purchase cold medicine. If he was sincere about protecting the integrity of elections, he would want people to prove their identities in order to cast a ballot.”