The new redistricting in Wisconsin has led to a little confusion.
"We're not only changing and moving districts, we're changing the system beneath it," said Julie Glancey, the Sheboygan County clerk. "We had many, many voters who showed up (on the computer map) on the coast of Africa and we had to drag them back to the state of Wisconsin and put them where they belonged."
Wisconsin voters go to the polls on February 21 for primaries in the spring races. The Government Accountability Board says it's trying to fix all the mistakes before then, but officials say some voters may still show up at the wrong polling places and have to sort things out on the spot.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel notes that Wisconsin Republicans rushed the redistricting through last year when they were facing recalls, rather than wait for local officials to map out their wards as they usually do. It's not clear whether that's what caused the problem, but if you're a Wisconsite whose polling place is now on the West Coast of Africa, you've got a situation on your hands either way.
(H/t everyone on Twitter)
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What's up with the recall, btw?
Petition drive closes on the 15th. Actually, it's already closed and is being vetted for invalid signatures by the petitioning groups before turning them in. Expect months of court cases filed by the Republicans.
The deadline to turn in the recall signatures is Tuesday January 17.
http://www.politiscoop.com/us-politics/wisconsin-politics/662-friday-jan-13-regional-recall-offices-hold-parties-for-final-signature-submission.html
Maybe they should all be charged with "Obstruction of Justice", along with his embezzlement charges. And Blagoavich is in prison, I believe. They have a cell with Walker's name on it. Trust me, the guards have been taking bets for a long time now. This is probably going to turn into a LMN movie, long before Casey Anthony gets one.
Moody's downgrades Illinois debt to the worst state in the nation and Wisconsin will spend 9 million dollars to recall a governor that balanced the budget without raising taxes or laying off workers. The irony of it all.
Obstruction should be charged to those writing the names of Mickey Mouse or signing the petition a dozen times. Perhaps we should prosecute the teachers that brought petitions into the classroom for their students to sign (my daughters college class).
Contessa, please stop trolling.
"Mickey Mouse" was found on a Republican-gathering petition of a Democratic Senator. With your logic, the Republicans should be charged with obstruction. I think that's fine - just as they ran spoiler campaigns as well. But I doubt that's what you meant by any stretch of the imagination.
And let's not forget that Walker gave away the surplus money Wisconsin had in his first week of office to his cronies, creating a deficit by his own hand and using that as an excuse to break the unions. Nor let's forget the tax cuts and deregulations of the banking industry on a national scale led to the almost complete meltdown of the United States under either Republican Rule or Republican Obstruction.
But that's okay, don't let pesky things like facts get in the way of your politics.
The financial meltdown was the result of a housing bubble which had Democratic fingerprints all over it. There were many to blame, Dems, repubs, rating agencies, the Fed, Clinton, banks, CRA. Throwing out liberal talking points makes you look like an ignorant putz. Facts are facts.
And I'll bet you don't remember GWB's speach where he said he "deregulated Fannie Mae and Freddie Mack" so lower income people could buy a nice home. Wasn't GWB a republican? Thought so.
And I bet you don't remember the 17 times Bush sought more oversight into these two GSE's.
Did you read my previous post. You see the word right after Dems? It says repubs. Clinton was the great deregulator. He reapealled Glass-Stegal and passed the commodities Futures Modernization Act.
Voters in my area, Mordor, er, Waukesha County, will be affected. Please note the quote from our favorite county clerk, Kathy Nickolaus:
"I know it wasn't an error on my part, which is always a good thing," Nickolaus said.
Source: http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt-and-politics/errors-in-redistricting-process-could-affect-thousands-of-voters/article_04776e4a-3bf8-11e1-9d51-0019bb2963f4.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter#ixzz1j705vw76
Oh yes, Kathy doesn't make mistakes when it's something as important as an election.
I love Waukesha. Thank you waukesha!!!!!!
For the illegal way of collecting votes? It is illegal to use a "stand alone, private computor" to register and count votes.
No illegalities were performed in Waukesha. Don't be a sore loser.
Critical thinking the other great american deficit! They need to maybe think things though before jumping. oh that's right they didn't have to think as it was all written out for them by ALEC.
Diversity IQ test for GOP.
Fail.
Freeport, Sierra Leon?
Free Town, WI?
St. Louis, MO?
St. Louis, Senegal?
No doubt, Walker and his Croonies probably did that deliberately so he can't get recalled. It shows how they want to ruin everything this country stands for.
If the repubs wanted to ruin everything this country stands for,they would just move aside and let the Dems keep messing things up. First credit downgrade in US history. Illinois rated worst debt in the US. spend,spend,spend...that is the Dem way.
The republicans are ruining this country and as a typical republican you cannot answer my questions. Taxes went down for my parents by $75 dollars my friend's taxes in Waukesha went up Walker is doing nothing for this state. Some counties the taxes went down in others it went up. Walker is not doing anything for this state and soon he will be gone.
what questions?
Walker took a 3.6 billion dollar deficit and balanced the budget. He allowed school systems more options to balance their budget. My district went from 400 million in the red to a balanced budget and our property taxes were lower. Kaukauna actually hired more teachers and lowered class size. Milw and Kenosha areas rushed to makes a new contract so they wouldn't have to put Walker's policies into action. They are the ones that laid off teachers while taxes are going up.
Sorry to interject some reality here, but Milwaukee and the MTEA tentatively agreed to the current 2009 - 2013 teacher contract was settled in October of 2010. This was before Walker was elected. The teacher's union ratified it in November with a press release announcing the ratification on November 22 (http://www.mtea.org/News/MTEANewsReleases.nws). This too was before Walker took office. Statements that Milwaukee "rushed to make a new contract so they wouldn't have to put Walker's policies into action" are at best misleading, at worst, dishonest.
I'd like to move the Koch Brothers to Germany, where they belong. They are the descendants of a nazi, do you guys know this? Tell you what, you guys tell Walker to stop messing around, or you will take Walker of the record as having ever been govenor, and prosecute him. Remember what the did to Blagoyavich ot wharever his name was.
You might want to know that Wisconsin has a proud history of immigrants from Germany and Eastern Europe and politicians of the same heritage. Also, the Socialist movement here in the Midwest grew out of the German heritage and the Republican party. Never confuse a Socialist with the National Socialist party of Hitler. They are not at all the same thing. Read Dr. Marvin Wachman's book about the growth of Socialism in Milwaukee in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Fred, have a link to that book? Sounds interesting, but I can't find it.
From Wikipedia:
"Wachman was the author of History of the Social-Democratic Party of Milwaukee, 1897-1910 (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1945)."
Full text: http://www.archive.org/stream/HistoryOfTheSocial-democraticPartyOfMilwaukee1897-1910/Milwaukee_djvu.txt
I'm in Texas where our vote doesn't count if you vote Democrat, they fixed the maps that way. I guess that President OBama will be the Dem choice in Wisconsin anyway. As for whose in charge up there? Must be Cartman; and nobodys questioning his authoritee!!!!
I live in Texas district 17. Before the 2003 shenanigans, it was counties in a nice little box. Then it became a python running about 300 miles long. Now it includes a town almost 100 miles from me to the east, but not the town 30 miles south which used to be in 17. Plus, we have a little hook that goes from Bryan over to Austin for no logical reason. Hispanic population growth was mostly the reason Texas gets 4 extra reps, but only one district is designed to give an Hispanic more than a snowball's chance of getting elected. But this is not politically motivated, of course.
We are outraged when we see attempts to thwart the democratic voting process in foreign countries yet we experience it here in Wisconsin almost daily. Whether it's redistricting or the new voter ID legislation, we are being denied our constitutional rights. Where does the UN stand on what is going on in Wisconsin? Maybe we could apply for UN watchdogs to help us with the upcoming recall election.
Barney Frank for President 2016!
YES. Please have him run for office.
Entire republican leadership migrated to Liberia? It's a thought.
exiled would be a better word than migrated. IMHO
Maybe they should run and hide in Illinois.
When I go to the site to find who my reps are (which by the way I already know) it comes up that my address doesn't exist. I call the city clerk and she tells me everything is okay and they can fix any of the problems when I get to the polls. It shows on their records that I am a registered voter. Before the redistricting everything showed up just fine. Goodness knows if at election time if (even with proper ID) I can vote. This is another mess. Remember when things were nice and quiet here in Wisconsin? What a sham our government is now.
Dems are just as guilty as Republicans when it comes to redistricting shenanigans. Federal courts have had a lot of lawsuits about redistricting in the states. The issue should be handled by nonpartisan state commissions that are beyond the reach of any governor to interfere. That means these commissions should be a constitutional body rather than created by state statute. Governors and legislatures should not have the ability to remove commissioners for petty reasons so only and impeachment and trial should be used to remove them. That insulates the commission form political interference by any party.
I doubt that any other political party can be as incompetent or as corrupt as the Republican party has been in Wisconsin or Texas, though, according to the anecdotes from our friends here in comments above.
If we Wisconsinites can handle winter, we can handle a Walker recall. Everybody chill, we got this.
Western Sahara certainly has a better government (i.e. none) than Wisconsin
WTF?!? West Africa isn't even CLOSE to Kenya!
/snark
They are saying in Wisconsin that people are coming in to get the proper ID so they can vote. I wonder what the republicans will pull next when they can't win because everyone followed this stupid law and voted. Also can someone please explain too me why republicans say they are for small government? Isn't big government that takes away our freedoms and choices. Such as our freedom to vote without ID and too make the choice to use birth control. Isn't it big government that tells us what we can and cannot do in the privacy of our own homes and bedrooms?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-uVhhIlPk0&feature=player_embedded
Big government = 5 trillion of new debt added in just three years.
Government should stay out of the bedroom.
Costs for Obama's regulations in just 2 years, equals costs of Bush regulations in 8 years.
You say they should stay out of the bedroom but the republicans feel they have the right to say what goes on in our bedrooms. Rick Santorum is against birth control and wants to ban it. Republicans are against abortion and sex ed actually they are against education period. Because if people were properly educated the chances of unwanted pregnancy would be lower. But the republicans do not want to fund such education programs or provide birth control. They also do not want to provide programs for the children once they are here such as food stamps, housing etc. Instead they want to give tax breaks to the rich and take away worker's rights. They continue to tax the middle and working class to death with the empty promise that someday you might be rich.
I don't vote on social issues. I am pro-choice and pro-gay. The economy, the debt and foreign issues are what I vote on and Obama sucks at all three.
We give plenty to social programs.It is time to trim our spending in all areas especially entitlements which make up the biggest portion of our budget. Unless you are a socialist, this is what people realize is necessary to do.
RE: contessa61's comment on regulations:
I favor regulations that do these things. You apparently don't support controls on financial institutions, lung health for infants, children, or adults of all ages, or aid to the disabled or medically insured.
Karen. Like most liberals that hang out here, you are a black and white thinker. When GOP calls for less government and fewer regulations that does not mean get rid of all regulations. There are 2000 pages in Frank/Dodd. Approximately 3000 pages in Obamacare and we have the epa regulating CO2.
Good link, BTW, Regulations slow down the economy, make the deficit bigger, our government bigger and according to Obama, will make energy costs skyrocket. I care about the economy and employment. You apparently don't.
This would be hysterical if it weren't so terrifying. This administration is such a disgrace.
Do people here read or just jump to conclusions (don't answer I already know you did not read the story.) The story says the error was noticed and they had to move the people back to the correct area. There was a problem with programming a computer not a problem with redistricting people. As always though do not let facts get in the way of liberal's complaining.
Cbear. Facts are nothing to the left just as long as their narrative gets the headlines.
Maybe you should read better. My address no longer exists. They will have to fix things when I go to the polls. Who knows if my vote will count or not. You have no idea what these people are really doing here in Wisconsin. Listening to Walker you would think things are really good but guess again.
Where does this story say that addresses are missing. I reread and I still see that the program set people up as having a polling location in Africa and then people had to manually bring them back. Please point out where I am wrong and I will admit it. I just do not see it. Also I am a conservative leaning independant in Wisconsin so I am seeing a lot of what is going on in the state. While I do not agree with everything that Walker or the republicans are doing I must admit I prefer what is going on now to the Doyle years. I personally would like to get some one more moderate than either of them though.
Things are really good in Wisconsin and when we get rid of Obama and the economy takes off, things will be even better.
Drink some more kool aid contessa. Just wait to see the number of signed sealed and delivered recall petitions. Your good friend Wanker will soon be a thing of darkness in the memories of the good Wisconsinites or maybe a really good friend of Bubba's, in the jails, run by the correction officers he screwed. And we will take out his little friend Fitzzy too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-uVhhIlPk0&feature=player_embedded
Thank you Scott Walker for voter ID
Note to republicans - when you're trying to rig the game in your favor, at least think long term about what you're doing - otherwise you end up looking stupid-er!!
see voter id above. Lefties rig the game.
"voter fraud" in Wisconsin is .0002% having an ID would not change the statistic. I personally don't get statistical information from youTube. It's best to have a reliable and verifiable source (one that shows a statistical significance is even better). Just fyi.
Don't feed actual facts to the trolls, Melissa. They're like kryptonite to neocons.
iF people can walk in and use a dead persons name, then there is no idea of the amount of voter fraud that happens. That's a fact.
No, that is conjecture.
"They hope to fix the issues by the Feb. 21 election, but if they don't, some voters could wind up at the wrong polling place - or find that they don't appear on the polling list at their correct polling place. In that case, they would have to work with election officials to fix the situation."
Yeah, read the article. No, problem is not fixed nor is it likely to be fixed by Feb 21st. I'd say me waiting in line in my polling place for a protracted amount of time only to find out that I'm in the wrong place is a problem. A pretty big one.
And on top of all that Milissa, you have to worry about electronic voting machines, if you do get to vote. Nothing has ever made me happier then spending time on recalls, except maybe having my kids. This is not the Wisconsin that I want for my Grand kids. It was a state that we could brag about, before, and look at us now. Get the crooks out of office and let us return to a place were everyone respected their neighbors. Back to when the police, fire fighters, teachers, nurses and correction officers were the good guys. Back to When people smiled and education was not a sin. Back to when we were proud to say we were Wisconsinites...home of the Packers, Badgers, and brats and beer. Back to "the good ol' days!
Why do you think they rushed this through without going through standard procedures?Why do you think they wanted the voterID law, when it has been proven there is no voter ID fraud? Why do you think they are passing all these ridiculous laws and frivolous lawsuits? Why do you think Walker didn't mention doing away with collective bargaining and all these laws when he ran for Governor? He knew he would not get elected and now these laws are all to protect his grab for power and greed. It is as simple as that, at the expensive of all hard working people and people who are having a hard time of it now, not for being lazy, but for losing their jobs. And losing jobs by the thousands each month. His time is up! Get our Wi. back!
Specifically, they pushed it through last summer hoping people would end up in the wrong district and unable to participate in the senate recall elections. Or not realize they were in the right district and neglect to vote.
Sprain your back jumping thru hoops to prove that you're real and you live at your address, only to find out that the State now says your address doesn't exist.
Sheesh. Please send me an absentee ballot at my allegedly nonexistent address. The Post Office still knows where to find it.
Oh nevermind. I'll go pick it up myself. Whatever.
Here in WI we get plenty of practice shoveling whatever needs to be shoveled. Snow. Manure. Chicken sh*t. Whatever. We're shoveling as fast as we can.
They can have their hoops and their bizarre maps and their billionaire buddies. It doesn't matter. The People of Wisconsin are tough and we will still vote and we will still win.
Let's see--CNN's graphics department once made Maine contiguous to New York State. I'm sure that surprised a lot of people in Vermont and New Hampshire. At least CNN kept the states on the same continent, though.