Proof That Voting Fraud Was Attempt By Wisconsin Republicans To Gain More Power

I have stressed repeatedly that the Wisconsin voter ID law was nothing more than a partisan excuse by the Republicans to make it more difficult for some voters to cast a ballot.  Now there is proof that was the aim of conservatives in power at the statehouse.

Proof now has come to light in The Guardian, a British newspaper, that shows there was a calculated and brazen attempt to plant false and misleading ideas before the electorate in our state.  This damning information along with other leaks show clearly why Governor Walker and his conservative brethren wanted to not only stop the John Doe investigation into his 2012 recall election, but also have documents destroyed with court approval.

The Wisconsin State Journal has a stinging account of what took place.

They were dated to the early morning hours of April 6, 2011. At that time, the outcome remained too close to call in the race between incumbent and GOP favorite then-Justice David Prosser and the candidate favored by Democrats, Judge Joanne Kloppenburg.

Steve Baas, a lobbyist for the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce and former Republican legislative staffer, floated an idea on the email thread:

“Do we need to start messaging ‘widespread reports of election fraud’ so we are positively set up for the recount regardless of the final number? I obviously think we should.”

Scott Jensen — the former GOP Assembly Speaker turned lobbyist for American Federation for Children, a private school voucher advocacy group — quickly responded:

“Yes. Anything fishy should be highlighted. Stories should be solicited by talk radio hosts.”

In another email, Jensen writes that Prosser “needs to be on talk radio in the morning saying he is confident he won and talk radio needs to scream the Dems are trying to steal the race.”

Data shows that nothing nefarious was happening at the polling places in Wisconsin.  NOTHING.  There were no streams of voters pretending to be someone else, or voting twice. There were no throngs of folks using fake aliases to cast a ballot, and there were no elections that had been decided by all the wild claims.  The only drama that takes place regarding elections are when Republicans breathlessly try to gin up their base with false-hoods about voter fraud.

We also need to be reminded that no Republican was able to stand up in the legislature and produce any court cases, judge’s rulings, or names of those who cast fraudulent votes. If there was such rampant voting abuses why did the Attorney General not investigate?

Voter ID remains one of the most shameful actions taken by Wisconsin Republicans.

And now we have proof.