{"id":36297,"date":"2018-01-12T14:37:49","date_gmt":"2018-01-12T19:37:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sidebarforplaintiffs.naomifein.net\/?p=36297"},"modified":"2018-01-12T14:37:49","modified_gmt":"2018-01-12T19:37:49","slug":"voting-rights-what-the-hell-happened-in-wisconsin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sidebarforplaintiffs.naomifein.net\/?p=36297","title":{"rendered":"Voting rights: what the hell happened in Wisconsin?"},"content":{"rendered":"

This story from Mother Jones answers some of my furious questions about the 2016 election, especially in Wisconsin.<\/a> How on earth did it happen?<\/p>\n

And it keeps me furiously focused on my obsession about voting rights. You know, the odd notion that every citizen in this country at or over the age of 18 must be allowed to vote easily, simply, without hassle, without discouragement, without traveling unreasonable miles to find a voting booth. It could be by mail<\/a>, by internet<\/a>, or the way I vote, by foot:<\/p>\n

From the front door of my building I walk three and one half blocks, turn left, walk another half block and enter my local public school, where, if I’ve forgotten my district number (I have a memory ploy: my district is the number of Devon Kennard, one of my Giants’ linebackers), I ask at a table by giving my home address and a helpful poll worker looks up my district in a big book. Then I go to a table for my district, give the polling aides my name, they flip through a large record, find my name — with a copy of my signature from the previous election — and ask me to sign anew on the line.<\/p>\n

They then give me a ballot and a writing implement, I take both to an open booth with a shelf upon which I put my ballot, and carefully contemplate my choices before filling in the \u039f next to each person for whom I wish to vote. I then take my ballot to a scanner, stick it in, the scanner sucks it up and shoots the paper copy onto a pile behind the scanner. You know, proof.<\/p>\n

I am given an I Voted sticker which I paste on my jacket, thank everyone who helped me, exit the polling place (the school auditorium or gym, don’t remember which), buy a homemade cupcake from the school kids selling them for a dollar, and leave, eating my cupcake.<\/p>\n

I vote in every single election, even the ones nobody pays attention to, because I’m with Andrea Anthony, whose rotten experience trying to vote in Wisconsin starts the Mother Jones story:<\/p>\n

You can\u2019t say<\/span> Andrea Anthony didn\u2019t try. A 37-year-old African American woman with an infectious smile, Anthony had voted in every major election since she was 18. On November 8, 2016, she went to the Clinton Rose Senior Center, her polling site on the predominantly black north side of Milwaukee, to cast a ballot for Hillary Clinton. \u201cVoting is important to me because I know I have a little, teeny, tiny voice, but that is a way for it to be heard,\u201d she said. \u201cEven though it\u2019s one vote, I feel it needs to count.\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

She\u2019d lost her driver\u2019s license a few days earlier, but she came prepared with an expired Wisconsin state ID and proof of residency. A poll worker confirmed she was registered to vote at her current address. But this was Wisconsin\u2019s first major election that required voters\u2014even those who were already registered\u2014to present a current driver\u2019s license, passport, or state or military ID to cast a ballot. Anthony couldn\u2019t, and so she wasn\u2019t able to vote.<\/em><\/p>\n

The poll worker gave her a provisional ballot instead. It would be counted only if she went to the Department of Motor Vehicles to get a new ID and then to the city clerk\u2019s office to confirm her vote, all within 72 hours of Election Day. But Anthony couldn\u2019t take time off from her job as an administrative assistant at a housing management company, and she had five kids and two grandkids to look after. For the first time in her life, her vote wasn\u2019t counted.<\/em><\/p>\n

I bolded what Ms. Anthony said because that’s exactly the way I feel.<\/p>\n

I suggest everyone donate to Mother Jones — it’s a non-profit foundation, tax deductible, at least this past year — because I need them to investigate precisely how dark money\u00a0 bought the Wisconsin, Missouri and Indiana senate seats.<\/a><\/p>\n

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This story from Mother Jones answers some of my furious questions about the 2016 election, especially in Wisconsin. How on earth did it happen? And it keeps me furiously focused on my obsession about voting rights. You know, the odd … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[636,1095,1175,1265],"tags":[2621,2620,2619,1217,210,2618,675,2617],"class_list":["post-36297","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-koch-bros-final-solution-to-democracy","category-politics","category-the-facts-of-life","category-voting-rights","tag-devon-kennard","tag-evan-bayh","tag-jason-kander","tag-mother-jones","tag-new-york-giants","tag-russ-feingold","tag-voting-rights","tag-wisconsin-2016-election"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t