KEV-HULK SMASH PUNY ED BOARD

Well, the Journal Sentinel's Editorial Board has finally spoken up. And from what we learned, it once again proves that in order to get on the JS editorial board, you must have a partial lobotomy performed on you.

I'd go into this thing with a fine-tooth comb but since Sean's already done some of that and my personal ethics to not go into a exploitive-laden post, discourse will rule the day - for the moment.

Republicans are quick to jump on discrepancies, real or imagined, in voting data in Milwaukee as proof of widespread fraud in the big city. In their minds, the Journal Sentinel's findings fit that pattern. A more plausible explanation, however, is that the findings reflect the unfortunate tendency of voting systems throughout America to err. Milwaukee voters with dubious addresses made up four-tenths of 1% of the turnout, by the way. Nevertheless, the disclosures should give impetus to efforts to upgrade the electoral apparatus.

First of all, many of these discrepancies are real. There are at least 1,200 votes from people who live in parks, alleys, vacant lots, and mobile gyro stands. Captain Ed is reporting that 186 of those 1,200 come from the list of 5,600 the state GOP asked Lisa Artison (you know the incompetent one) to watch out for.

This does not 'reflect the unfortunate tendency of voting systems throughout America,' it reflects on the WISCONSIN VOTING SYSTEM. Upgrading the Wisconsin system won't fix anything. It's like having a virus on your computer, upgrading your OS won't wipe out the virus. It will only infect the new OS.

It is time to purge the system and start anew.

The errors must be corrected. But photo IDs, the cure-all pushed by Republicans, would cure hardly anything. What's more, the GOP's obsession with Milwaukee doesn't help. After all, electoral glitches pockmark the entire state. But Republicans are threatening to myopically focus only on Milwaukee. Any probe must widen to the entire state or at least big chunks of it.

Pardon me if I read between the lines in that paragraph. Yes, photo IDs will not be the cure-all. Photo IDs and ending same-day registration will be the cure-all.

The problem is that politicians in this state don't have the political guts to fix the problem. They're afraid of what United Council will say about the college students (who should be voting only absentee), they're afraid of what the Gwen Moores of the world who will scream bloody murder, or the Jim Doyles who worry about their 88 year-old mothers in nursing homes. (Jim - Hold a Bingo game if you want your mom to vote, or pay the $4 and take her to the Dane Co. DMV for Pete's sake.)

Also, if one read betweens the lines of the last two sentences of that paragraph as well as this one:

Suburban legislators lack empathy, unfortunately. One of them, Rep. Jeff Stone, a Greenfield Republican, is beating the drums for a probe of the Milwaukee elections. He has seized on the gap between the 84,000 people the city estimated registered on election day and the 73,000 cards it sent out to new registrants to verify their addresses. Indeed, in fixing the system, city officials must address that gap. But problems with the cards seem widespread in Wisconsin. What explains Stone's fixation on Milwaukee?

You notice the JS editorial board making pot shots at the focus on Milwaukee. There is only one thing to decipher from those statements. The JS board is subtlely raising the specter that the state GOP is only doing this because they are racists. After all, Milwaukee is the most segregated city in America. It's recent mayoral election was black Milwaukee versus white Milwaukee.

With the line 'fixation on Milwaukee' the JS is hoping that all of these voter anomalies can be sweep under the rug by hint at throwing the race card down. Unfortunately for the JS editorial board, the state is about to get an audit going statewide - as it should - ending the race-baiting.

Meanwhile, the state is moving closer to an audit of election procedures that is expected to include a major focus on the problems in Milwaukee.

The statewide audit, which had already been approved by the Legislature, has been accelerated, and a "scope of audit" - the step that formally launches the state probe - could be approved as soon as Thursday.

"To have this information about the addresses out there before the election and have it ignored is another mind-boggling element of this whole thing," said state Rep. Jeff Stone (R-Greendale), who is also preparing to reintroduce a photo identification requirement for all voters.

I know for a fact that Greg Borowoski, the only reporter who seems to actually want to cover this, has called other counties. My state senator has told me that a call was made to the Sheboygan County Clerk. That was done on last Wednesday, no answer has come back to my knowledge.

I plan on calling Manitowoc County Clerk Char Peterson today on this matter. Manitowoc County, due to Wisconsin's insane registration rule that states if you live in a city, town, village, or township with a population less than 5,000 (unless changed by local ordinance) you are not required to register, only has the cities of Manitowoc and Two Rivers where voter registration verification cards are legally required to be sent out. In Sheboygan County, the City of Sheboygan, Town of Sheboygan, City of Sheboygan Falls, and the City of Plymouth are all required to have voter registration verification cards sent out.

It's going to be a tough fight. Our pin-head of a Governor Jim Doyle, a wholly-owned subsidiary of WEAC, had this to say on the matter.

Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle, who opposes a photo ID requirement, said Tuesday he believes most of the issues raised could be traced back to processing problems, not fraud.

"I think we have a pretty good system," Doyle said. "If you register at the polls, you have to show appropriate identification to show that you are who you claim to be and that you reside at that
location."

In all likelihood that fight ends in 2007. With the inauguration of someone other than James E. Doyle as Governor of the State of Wisconsin.

Cross posted at Lakeshore Laments by Kevin
Note: Any updates on this post can be found at my home blog.