Investigators have determined that there was rampant voter fraud in Wisconsin in 2004:
The Milwaukee investigation has revealed that the number of ballots counted there exceeds, by 4,609, the number of people recorded as voting. There is no evident explanation for this other than ballot box stuffing. In addition, investigators found “more than 200 cases of felons voting illegally and more than 100 people who voted twice, used fake names or false addresses or voted in the name of a dead person.”
And, when the Wisconsin Assembly passed a common-sense amendment that would require photo ID before voting, Gov. Jim Doyle vetoed the bill, and the Assembly didn’t have the votes to override the Governor’s veto.
Democrats certainly want to count every vote – every illegal vote multiple times…
Here is a question then (not totally unrelated to your post):
1 – Factual question: does everyone convicted of felony lose the right to vote? What sort of transgression does it take to lose that right? (i.e. speeding vs. shoplifting vs burglary vs manslaughter vs murder). Is that verdict passed automatically or does it always take a specific case-related cour ruling? For what duration do felons lose the right to vote?
2 – Opinion question: do you agree with that practice of revoking the right to vote?
J.
1 – It depends on the state – all but two states bar current inmates in prisons from voting, and most bar all felons from voting. The length of time also depends on the state. Each state has different rules for what constitutes a felony offense, but they’re usually very serious crimes (shoplifting isn’t a felony, but grand theft auto would be). When someone is charged with a crime, the prosecuting attorney picks which crime the person will be charged with – usually in felony cases a grand jury meets before the trial to determine if there’s enough evidence to justify the charges.
2 – I think that if you’ve committed a major crime, you’ve basically broken your end of the social contract and states should have the right to bar you from voting. Especially given how many felons go on to commit crimes again, it makes sense. I’d be OK with allowing ex-felons to vote after a certain number of years (no less than 10) provided that they didn’t commit any further crimes.
Wisconsin is a traditionally Democratic state. Is it a coincidence, then, that it rocks? I grew up in WI, but I now live in Missouri. I’ll take WI any day.
Minnesota, Wisconsin, and West Virginia may traditionally vote Democrat, but they are trending Republican in a hurry. On the other hand, New Hampshire is going Blue, and I think it’s safe to say that Pennsylvania is also a fairly safe Democrat seat. And yes, I would say that it is a coincidence, in that there are both Blue and Red states that rock, as well as suck.
Jerry, of the three you mention, only West Virginia would comfortably fit into the “trending Republican in a hurry” category. Minnesota and Wisconsin are both moderate states where the new brand of social conservatism will be soundly rejected over and over again. If the GOP continues down it’s current theocratic path, Minnesotans and Wisconsinites will continue to reject them at the polls despite the influx of anti-populist suburban yuppies in both states.
Minnesota and Wisconsin just have a different kind of culture than the rest of America.
There’s been enough voter fraud in Wisconsin (and probably Minnesota as well) over the years to convince me that Wisconsin is really a “red ” state at heart that’s been stolen in the past wo presidential elections.
If you look at how close the margin of victory for Gore and Kerry were, and look at the amount of voter fraud that took place , you can see why I say that. And former WI residents I know tell me the same, that the typical Wiscononite ( leaving aside Madison) is fairly conservative.
Mark,
I’m just simply going by the regional patterns, as exemplified over the last couple of elections. Missouri once was a toss-up state, now its red. Iowa switched in 2004. As we head north in that area, we’re seeing the Republicans gain ground in every election (throw Michigan in that group also).
On the flip side, Virginia and North Carolina, reliably Republican in the 1990’s, seem to be evening out, with New Hampshire and Pennsylvania also adopting the Costal Blue pattern. You may also see something similar happening in Arizona and Colorado, but we’d need at least 1-2 more elections to be sure. Of course this could all change, but that appears to be the trend (and just a trend – I didn’t commit to the idea that Minnesota was Alabama!).
Jerry
Jerry, I live in Minnesota and have watched Bush’s approval ratings drop to below 40% here and only slightly above 40% in Iowa and Wisconsin. My guess is that all three would be solidly red right now if the Republican party was still represented by Gerald Ford, Bob Dole and Howard Baker rather than those on the far right flank of American politics such as George W. Bush, Trent Lott and Tom DeLay. All three states have rural social conservatives, but they are economic populists who are scared shitless of Social Security privatization and are lukewarm at best to deficit-fueled tax cuts for wealthy people who primarily live on the coasts. The number of “values voters” in the Upper Midwest is considerably smaller than the Southern and border states, but you make a good point with Missouri where the values voters seem to have taken over. Certainly in southern Iowa (south of Des Moines) the impoverished rural residents think and vote quite like their Missouri counterparts, but southern Iowa is so thinly populated that Dems can and do still win there, unlike Missouri.
On the other end of the spectrum, the suburbanites in all three of these states are turned off by much of the Republican Party’s current emphasis on social conservatism, be it the abortion issue or fear of homosexual marriage, even if they’re with the GOP on the economic issues (the upper-income, long-standing Republican suburban bastion of Edina, Minnesota went for Kerry in 2004).
Factoring both of these groups together, I think the new Republican Party is overreaching on every front and will likely cost themselves Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin for at least a generation. The state races of 2006 should be a pretty good indication of whether I’m right or not.
West Virginia, on the other hand, does appear to be caught in a substantial Republican tide based on “values voters”. Unless the Democrats propose to give out free firearms every month and throw in a gay person to use as target practice, I think Republicans will take over WV and quickly as they did Georgia.
It’s been my experience that Wisconsinites are socially conservative, not fiscally conservative. For example, people in my town pay their taxes so the roads and things are nice, but they also adhere to traditional Conservative values. You know, the values that include calling my father on the telephone to tell him I’m a whore because I wrote a letter to the editor in support of Planned Parenthood.