Wisconsin Elections Commissioner Bob Spindell boasted to fellow Republicans about declines in voter turnout in communities of color in Milwaukee. It’s sick. It’s also emblematic of something more.
Something Tony Evers could work on: Under Walker, in Madison they closed the late night/Saturday /ez requests only (IDs, update addresses, renewals) location for the DMV altogether, and then they moved the main office to Middleton, harder to access by bus, farther from campus, with no "non prime" hours. No doubt that move was echoed in Milwaukee (honestly I don't know, but knowing Walker...). If we can't get rid of photo ID, we can make it easier to get to the DMV and offer more locations/hours, and it will help increase turnout.
So I hate to be that guy, but I'm gonna be that guy here for a minute.
Let's set aside that turnout was down in most places from '18 because a lot of people that year really were offended that Trump did what he said he was gonna, and there wasn't quite the same emergency in '22.
Now, in my perfect world, we'd all be automatically registered via motor voter and also get a ballot for every election in the mail. In this world, a bit more effort than that is needed to vote. But as far as I'm aware, everyone in the state is bound by the same voting rules whether they live in Milwaukee or in Chenequa. We have, for the time being, no-excuses absentee voting by mail or in person. We have early voting in most places that lasts for many hours per day. Granted that more densely populated places should have far more voting locations with no good excuse why not, other than finding enough election workers. But it's not actually required to vote in person on a schedule here. It can be done as soon as the absentee ballot can be returned from wherever the voter is.
The point being, everyone should actually be able to cast a vote if they understand the responsibility and have the motivation to do so without making it any easier than it is now. To be perfectly honest, if a Republican were to ask me what is the value of a vote from someone who doesn't have enough life skills to figure out how to get registered, get a ballot, fill it out, and get it to a mailbox under their own power, I'm not sure I could give them an answer they'd find convincing. Even in Oregon, where they already have motor voter registration and all-mail balloting, they only got 62% turnout, so maybe it's worth wondering how more than a third of the state doesn't take the opportunity when it's essentially handed to them on a plate. I'm not sure what more they could do without printing the ballot on a post-it note and having people walking around sticking it to everyone's foreheads.
Bottom line, if people are so separated from civil participation that they have to have their hands held all the way through the entire process, I don't know that I could make a good argument about how well considered their choices are. I'd need to hear the explainer for the opposite point of view.
Something Tony Evers could work on: Under Walker, in Madison they closed the late night/Saturday /ez requests only (IDs, update addresses, renewals) location for the DMV altogether, and then they moved the main office to Middleton, harder to access by bus, farther from campus, with no "non prime" hours. No doubt that move was echoed in Milwaukee (honestly I don't know, but knowing Walker...). If we can't get rid of photo ID, we can make it easier to get to the DMV and offer more locations/hours, and it will help increase turnout.
So I hate to be that guy, but I'm gonna be that guy here for a minute.
Let's set aside that turnout was down in most places from '18 because a lot of people that year really were offended that Trump did what he said he was gonna, and there wasn't quite the same emergency in '22.
Now, in my perfect world, we'd all be automatically registered via motor voter and also get a ballot for every election in the mail. In this world, a bit more effort than that is needed to vote. But as far as I'm aware, everyone in the state is bound by the same voting rules whether they live in Milwaukee or in Chenequa. We have, for the time being, no-excuses absentee voting by mail or in person. We have early voting in most places that lasts for many hours per day. Granted that more densely populated places should have far more voting locations with no good excuse why not, other than finding enough election workers. But it's not actually required to vote in person on a schedule here. It can be done as soon as the absentee ballot can be returned from wherever the voter is.
The point being, everyone should actually be able to cast a vote if they understand the responsibility and have the motivation to do so without making it any easier than it is now. To be perfectly honest, if a Republican were to ask me what is the value of a vote from someone who doesn't have enough life skills to figure out how to get registered, get a ballot, fill it out, and get it to a mailbox under their own power, I'm not sure I could give them an answer they'd find convincing. Even in Oregon, where they already have motor voter registration and all-mail balloting, they only got 62% turnout, so maybe it's worth wondering how more than a third of the state doesn't take the opportunity when it's essentially handed to them on a plate. I'm not sure what more they could do without printing the ballot on a post-it note and having people walking around sticking it to everyone's foreheads.
Bottom line, if people are so separated from civil participation that they have to have their hands held all the way through the entire process, I don't know that I could make a good argument about how well considered their choices are. I'd need to hear the explainer for the opposite point of view.
Thank you for this post, Dan. I have high regard for Angela’s work and will be sharing this piece widely.
We need to build a strong voting base in the Black community @
He's been around forever. What's the deal with Gerard Randall?