Republicans are reviving a state law which is already on the books but hasn’t been used in recent memory. It’s going to make being a clerk in Wisconsin more difficult at a time when clerks are already bracing themselves for implementation of the new voter ID law.
The law states that for *first consideration* for either a volunteer or paid poll worker slot, you have to be either a Dem or GOP member and appear on a list provided by the party. But the calls and emails put out by the GOP suggest that the workers MUST join a political party. And they suggest that the workers must join the Republican party.
From an article in Waunakee Tribune
“Deceptive tactics?
…First, the callers give the impression that the municipal clerks have referred them, and secondly, they tell elections inspectors that if they want to keep working, they have to join a political party, Hermann-Brown said.
“They can make the phone calls. They can submit a party list to the clerk, but the pretense they’re making these calls under is not right,” Hermann-Brown said.
Hermann-Brown added that most of the poll workers are independent and not affiliated with any political party.”
Diane Hermann-Brown, City of Sun Prairie Clerk, is the elections communications chair for the the Wisconsin Municipal Clerks Association.
More:
“Clerks around the southeastern part of state became concerned last week when their poll workers reported that the Republican Party had contacted them and asked them to join. According to emails from clerks, election inspectors had received phone calls from Republican Party members who told them that to be included on their list of poll workers, they would need to join the Republican Party and send a check for $15….”
According to Anne Uecker, president of the Wisconsin Municipal Clerks Association, most of the activity was reported from the Washington County area.
Is this an isolated problem? Knowing the Wisconsin GOP, I doubt it. Stay tuned.
More at WaunakeeTribune.com
blue cheddar 