Wednesday October 12, 2016
1. What you need to know about voting in Wisconsin before and on November 8th
2. U.S. Supreme Court's decision to to review Walker illegal campaign coordination case
(John Doe II) does not exonerate Walker & allies
3. Sign the petition demanding non-partisan redistricting reform in 2017
4. Jay Heck and Bert Zipperer on the Assault on Democracy in Wisconsin since 2011
1. Election Day, November 8th is now less than four weeks away! If you haven't been focusing yet, now is the time to do so. Barring any last-minute, court-ordered changes to Wisconsin's current voting laws (and we will alert you immediately if there are any), here is what you need to know to vote – and how you can get involved to help others do the same:
Early, absentee voting is available now!
See our guide to voting with an early, absentee ballot – in person or by mail, and then VOTE.
Important: If you're voting by mail with an absentee ballot, make sure the witness who signs your ballot certificate envelope includes their address with street number, street name and municipality. Due to a recent change in Wisconsin's voting law, if this information is not included, your absentee ballot will NOT be counted.
You must be registered to vote at your current address. If you are not or you're unsure if you are, see this information on voter registration options and deadlines.
When you vote, you will need to present one of the acceptable forms of photo ID for voting pictured left. (Click image to enlarge)For more information about voter photo ID – and how to get a free ID if you don't have an ID acceptable for voting – see our downloadable voter ID fact sheet. Or visit: Bring It to the Ballot.
If you do not have an acceptable ID for voting and need help getting one, contact one of these two Voter ID Hotlines: (608) 729-7720 or (414) 882-8622.
Are you (or do you know) a college student voting in Wisconsin?
Here are "Three Things College Students Need to Do To Vote in Wisconsin."
Do you need a ride to the polls?
As we did in 2014, CC/WI is currently identifying and recruiting organizations and individuals statewide willing to give free rides to the polls on Election Day and/or during the early voting period.
If you would like to be a part of this effort to help folks get to the polls, let us know by email or phone (608-658-2109) and we’ll add you to our list of drivers within your community.
Want to help protect the integrity of the November 8th election?
Sign up and receive training to be a poll worker. Municipalities across the state are shorthanded and are looking for folks who can work at their polling place. Contact your local municipal clerk for more information.
Or volunteer to be an election observer. Our longtime coalition partners at the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin are training nonpartisan poll observers across the state to watch for signs of voter disenfranchisement and intimidation, and to monitor the way new election laws and procedures are being applied. Sign up now using the League’s online Election Observer Volunteer Form.
Please take some time now, prepare and then VOTE. And then help make sure every eligible voter you know is able to do the same!
2. Last week, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) said they would not be considering the appeal of a case that the Wisconsin Supreme Court wrongly dismissed in July of 2015 – the so called "John Doe II" case involving the illegal campaign coordination of Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker with outside "independent" special interest groups, primarily Wisconsin Club for Growth, during the tumultuous recall elections of 2011 and 2012.
For those closely following this situation, the decision by SCOTUS not to take the case was not at all surprising. SCOTUS typically takes less than 2 percent of the cases that reach it for consideration and with the current 4 to 4 ideological deadlock created by the vacancy on the court by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia in February, SCOTUS has been particularly reluctant to take any controversial cases, which John Doe II certainly was.
But just because SCOTUS didn't take the case doesn't mean there wasn't illegal activity in Wisconsin by Walker and others. It just means that SCOTUS takes very few cases and is avoiding controversial cases like this one in particular, until the current vacancy on the court is filled.
The release of secret documents from the case by the British newspaper, The Guardian, in mid-September makes it abundantly clear that Walker was much more involved in illegal campaign fundraising and coordination from the very beginning of his first term in office, than was previously known. The documents also demonstrated just how compromised and corrupted the conservatives on the Wisconsin Supreme Court were when they declared that previously illegal campaign coordination in Wisconsin was legal and by ending the investigation by five district attorneys (two of them, Republican) and a Republican special prosecutor in that July 2015 decision.
For more on the SCOTUS decision and CC/WI's take on it go here, here and here.
For more on The Guardian newspaper document revelations see CC/WI Director Jay Heck on Capital City Sunday and on MSNBC.
3. Ending partisan gerrymandering
of state legislative and congressional districts in the upcoming 2017-18 legislative session is a top political reform priority as the next redistricting process in 2021 nears.If you have not done so already, please sign our on-line petition in support of the non-partisan "Iowa model" for Wisconsin. We have well over 2,000 signatures so far and are trying to get as many as possible to deliver to the Wisconsin Legislature in 2017.
4. Finally, to listen to a wide-ranging interview about all of these important political reform issues, here is a recent conversation between Jay Heck and former Madison Alder, Bert Zipperer on WORT-FM.
CONTACT:
Jay Heck
608/256-2686 (office)
608/512-9363 (cell)
Jay Heck, Executive Director
Common Cause in Wisconsin
152 W. Johnson St., Suite 212
Madison, WI 53703
608/256-2686
Want Good Government?
Join Common Cause in Wisconsin!
www.CommonCauseWisconsin.org
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