Wisconsin Democrats vow to register voters who may be purged
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Democrats in the key swing state of Wisconsin vowed Monday to redouble efforts to ensure that any voters whose registrations have been nullified by a judge’s recent ruling will be able to register again before the 2020 presidential election.
Legal appeals could delay for months enforcement of the judge’s order to purge more than 200,000 voters who didn’t respond within 30 days to letters seeking confirmation of their addresses. The case is expected to go all the way to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, which is controlled 5-2 by conservatives.
The Wisconsin Democratic Party will use the state’s open records law to obtain the names of everyone who would be purged and “systematically” contact those most likely to be Democrats so they can re-register, said state party chairman Ben Wikler. Voters do not register by political party in Wisconsin.
“This is an organizing challenge, not a crisis,” Wikler said. He said purging the voters “just adds to our to-do list. It’s a reason to work, not to freak out.”
Even if the number of voters who didn’t move but are tossed from the rolls is small, Democrats fear the impact on the election could be huge. President Donald Trump carried the state by fewer than 23,000 votes in 2016.
“I won the race for governor by less than 30,000 votes,” Democratic Gov. Tony Evers tweeted on Friday. “This move pushed by Republicans to remove 200,000 Wisconsinites from the voter rolls is just another attempt at overriding the will of the people and stifling the democratic process.”
Democratic Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett said Republicans were trying to “rig” the vote.
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