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Fliers contain faulty facts
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Many say the emphasis on early voting has made the process of casting a ballot easier this year, a belief reflected in large numbers of votes already cast at City Hall.
However, the process of going to the polls is not as convenient as made out to be in a flyer distributed to several University of Wisconsin residence halls late last week. The mailing, sent by the College Republicans in coordination with the campaign of Republican Congressional candidate Dave Magnum, encouraged students to vote “at the polling place of your choice.”
But students, like everyone else, may vote at one and only one designated polling location, not at the spot of his or her choosing.
Adam Peer, Magnum’s campaign director, took responsibility for the misleading language.
“Everything comes across my desk — it’s something I should have caught,” Peer said.
Chancellor John Wiley became aware of the inaccuracy through a student complaint Friday afternoon, and distribution was suspended shortly thereafter. The Magnum campaign will release a new flyer today, with Peer personally monitoring the printing process to ensure all information is correct.
The flyer has supporters of U.S. Representative Tammy Baldwin, who is challenging Magnum in the upcoming election, crying foul. They allege the flyer included deliberately deceptive language aimed at decreasing turnout among student voters, a group that traditionally leans Democrat.
“The Magnum campaign is familiar with where people vote,” Eric Phillips, America Coming Together-Wisconsin press secretary, said. “Their half-hearted apology doesn’t carry much weight with us. It was a legitimate attempt to decrease voter turnout.”
Peer said the inaccuracy in the flyer was an honest mistake, and noted malicious behavior would fly against the campaign’s emphasis on fair play.
“Some folks are saying we’re trying to suppress voters, but nothing could be further from the truth,” Peer said. “The intent was to remind students to vote.”
In response to the erroneous flyer, Wiley will e-mail all students today with information on correct polling locations. The university will prepare a similar paper mailing for students living in University Housing.
Students can also locate polling places by calling a hotline at 1-866-MYVOTE1 established recently by the clean government group Common Cause in Wisconsin. On Election Day the hotline will serve as a means for voters to connect with local elections officials in case of any voting irregularities.
With a close presidential election expected in the state, Wisconsin has been wrought with allegations of potential fraud in recent weeks.
State GOP officials recently filed a complaint with the State Elections Board claiming thousands of names listed on Milwaukee voter registration rolls hail from fictitious addresses. Milwaukee election officials previously turned down the Republicans’ complaint, finding the GOP had not proved the disputed addresses were indeed fake.
UW spokesman John Lucas said he hoped the Magnum flyer was not fraudulent in nature and expressed confidence the mailing would not discourage students from showing up at the polls.
“We hope it was an honest error,” Lucas said. “UW students are smart — we hope they can figure it out.”
— James Davison contributed to this article
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Come on! To even put this on the same level as the fraudulent registrations in Milwaukee is ridiculous! Shame on the Badger Herald for their continual sloppy reporting on this election.
Also, as screwed up as Wisconsin election law is, most students could vote in at least two different wards (at home and campus) and never get caught, so that language isn’t totally far from the truth.
Also, there’s no such thing as early voting in Wisconsin. However, the Madison City Hall is abusing the absentee balloting system to allow for it. It’s a win at all cost election for the Democrats, so I suppose the ends justify the means.
OK, above two posters, you’re both clearly misinformed assholes.
First, the absentee, early voting procedures at City Hall are in place in every single town in Wisconsin, this isn’t some Madison conspiracy theory. As soon as the ballot is written (about two weeks after the primary) then you can go vote. This has always been the case, it’s just that people didn’t pay attention to that until this election.
Second, clearly, Dave Magnum can’t expect the same kind of turnout in the student dorms that he can in the sticks. Why? Educated people won’t vote for that retard. Besides, Tammy is (rightly) beloved in this town, so any attempt to confuse or mislead students is good for his campaign. Frankly, dirty tricks.
And last, but not least, Milwaukee has absolutely no evidence of fraud yet. OF the thousands of addresses the GOP has challenged, the DA’s offices has found a handful that are incorrect. Literally, less than 10 out of 5,000 so far. The DA’s office is pissed (and isn’t it nice that the GOP waited until 3 minutes before the deadline last week to file their complaint?) with the GOP, as they should be.
The GOP wants to cast the blame on their loss this election on Democrats who are (in major cities, where those, you know, black people live) “committing fraud” by having voters registered more than once.
It’s pure bullshit. And they know it. You have to prove your residence in more than one location to be able to vote more than once, and frankly, with the long lines this election day, people, even if they wanted to, won’t be able to vote more than twice without spending all day at the polls. And who the hell is that motivated? The fact is, this “voter fraud” is completely unfounded, made up, and Republican wishful thinking because they are losing.
How can the top two posters read the article above, and not think that vote suppression is a reasonable inference to draw? Or are we really supposed to believe that the Magnum campaign is so stupid that it would do something like that by accident?
This is part of a larger pattern playing out across the nation, especially in Ohio and Florida.
Just remember folks, Republicans love democracy, as long as only they get to vote!
“Fliers contain faulty facts”
Faulty facts? I’ve never heard of a fact that was faulty. Falsehoods, lies or misinformation maybe. Who’s running this newspaper anyway?
they were stated as facts by the magnum people. in the real world, they aren’t facts, but the republicans are good at supplying “facts” like this
Hello to my fellow friends to the south. I am a Canadian and seeing all of the fraud going in the elections. I find it very contradicting the reason why he so called ‘liberate’ Iraq and I think if he wins the election he should be put on trial for the fraud election.