Report on WI election shows the system is a mess

That’s a terribly blunt headline but I think you’ll agree with it after you read the findings of a recent LWV report.

The League of Women Voters worked with other citizen groups like Wisconsin Election Protection and 152 volunteers to observe the June 5 recall election and report on their findings. Today LWV has released an easy to read 3 page summary. Half of the issues they saw adversely affected young voters.

It’s a disappointing shock to think that about $81 million was spent on the Governor’s election alone when we have such a slipshod voting system. But the report does echo much of what Wisconsin voters reported on facebook and twitter on June 5.

A few highlights:

* At many polling places statewide, the election officials were confused about what types of proof-of-residency
documents were acceptable for voters who wished to register at the polls.

* In some polling sites there were election observers who were very aggressive and who intimidated election
officials and, in some cases, voters. At some sites in Milwaukee, Racine and La Crosse, these observers
brought challenges to the right of a number of young people to register to vote.

* Many polling sites were unprepared for the high turnout.

* At several polling sites, people who said they had registered in 2011 or earlier this year were not listed as
being registered

* A number of sites did not have working touch-screen voting booths that would allow disabled voters to cast a
ballot privately.

* There were a number of reports from around the state about individuals who did not have adequate proofof-residence documentation, but who did have one or more registered voters, including their parents, who
could have vouched for them before the law was changed to ban corroboration as proof of residence.

What is still lacking from this report is an observation of the chain of custody for the votes (by that I mean who handled the ballots and how, where they were stored, and what condition they were in when they emerged). Also no mention is made of the integrity or lack thereof of the voting machines used on June 5th in Wisconsin.

Visit LWVWI to read the report and see the League’s recommendations.

You can visit League of Women Voters of Wisconsin on facebook and here’s their web site.

Here’s the facebook page for Wisconsin Election Protection.

This entry was posted on July 25, 2012 at 3:44 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.