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  • 2016-10-25 (xsd:date)
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  • Wisconsin Clerk Blocks Campus Voting Because Students Lean Democratic? (en)
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  • On 25 October 2016, the progressive news and opinion publication The Nation published an article with an e-mail embedded in it, which the periodical claimed was evidence of ongoing GOP attempts to suppress the vote: But the e-mail shared by The Nation doesn't necessarily prove that Teske was trying suppress the Democratic vote. Instead, it may document that she was concerned a Democratic lawmaker might have been pushing for early voting at the college to benefit his political party: The city sent us the entire exchange between Teske and Nathan Judnic, staff counsel for the Wisconsin Elections Commission. In the exchange, Teske cited multiple reasons for not favoring the campus as a satellite polling location. The possibility that it might favor the Democrats when a Democratic candidate who had been advocating its use was just one: Celestine Jeffreys, chief of staff for the Green Bay mayor's office, contacted us and said Teske's comments had been mischaracterized amidst the city's attempts to determine where to place a potential satellite early in-person absentee polling locations. As of now, the city has one in place at the centrally-located City Clerk's Office. Jeffreys said Eric Genrich, a state representative and Democrat, was advocating placing another one at the campus, and Teske was simply seeking guidance from election ethics attorneys about that recommendation (Jeffreys added that Genrich doesn't represent the campus but was making the request on behalf of the students): Wisconsin state law requires polling locations be placed as to not provide either party with an advantage: According to a statement from the city, the clerk was asking for guidance interpreting that statute. The e-mail was acquired by the non-profit One Wisconsin Institute, which has been heavily active in advocating for voter access in the state, by way of public records request and given to The Nation. Jeffreys said The Nation did not reach out to Teske to clarify what it meant. The story also asserted the Teske e-mail was one more item of proof of a larger pattern of Republican-led efforts to limit voting by communities that traditionally support Democratic candidates: There is without doubt a fight underway in Wisconsin over voting rights. In July 2016, a federal judge tossed out restrictions he said were tailored to suppress the vote of largely African-American residents who tend to vote for the Democratic party: While Wisconsin is adjudicated as having created unconstitutional voting restrictions favoring the Republican party, that doesn't mean the Green Bay city clerk was part of the problem. While she expressed concern about early voting at a college campus that might benefit Democratic candidates, it appears she was raising a legal question about what she believed could be one candidate's trying to influence the election outcome. (en)
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