Wisconsin Analysis; Youth Vote; Voter Suppression . . .

[aggiesal]

What do they have in common?

During 2008 election, the youth vote in WI. was 22%
In 2010, it was only 15%.
Yesterday only 16% of the vote came from the 18-29 age group, so
it would be easy to blame the lack of the youth vote for losing
the recall.

But here`s a little known fact.
Because WI has a law that allows you to register and vote on election
day, there were reports that polls were running out of registration forms
due to all the walk-ups.

Unfortunately, the WI legislature also recently passed a law that states
that you have to live at your current residence for 28 days to qualify to
register & vote on election day.
Since schools have recently ended or about to end, how many students
did this affect? How many will this affect for the November general election?

Voter suppression works, that`s why it`s part of the Republican game plan.

[shcrane71]

1. Yep... shenanigans. But be careful. You're liable to be called

a conspiracy theorist, and brow-beaten to "show me the evidence".

[elleng]

2. Not here!

There clearly was confusion about registration etc stuff yesterday; several posts here reflected it. 'Conspiracy?' Hell, yes.

[aggiesal]

4. The biggest mystery is ...

that 37% of the union members in WI voted for Walker.

What are these people smoking?

[pstokely]

10. Was that 37% public or private sector union members?

?

[aggiesal]

15. It only said ...

37% union members voted for Walker.

It did not break it down to % of public or % of private.

In either case it would be like voting to cut your own throat.

[Bluenorthwest]

3. This is why the most important State level office we vote for in each State

Is Secretary of State.

[Igel]

5. "Live at" versus "place of residence."

When I was 18 I went to school in New Jersey. When I was nearly 20, I transferred to a school in Delaware.

I graduated at age 21, before spring term, and moved to the West Coast. It wasn't until I was 22 that I had anything like a decent permanent address--lease, bank account, driver's license.

From my birth until my 22nd birthday I was a resident of Maryland. I couldn't vote in the elections in DE or NJ.

If I were a resident of WI and went to school in HI, as long as I kept my WI ID or bank accounts I'd be a resident of WI.

I'd also have probably voted by absentee ballot. If a lot of the young did this they wouldn't have been reflected in the exit polls.

However, you're talking percentages and not absolute numbers. In principle you could double the youth vote and have the percentage go down by 33% by tripling the numbers of all other groups. It's possible to be weaselly by using a count instead of a percentage or by using percentage instead of a count. Depends what's being considered. If the count stays roughly the same or decreases, use the %. If the count is skyrocketing, the % needs context.

[aggiesal]

6. I agree about your percentages assertion . . .

Youth turnout is being mentioned at 16% for this election. But because the
Republicans mobilized their Blue-Hair brigade, a lot more senior citizens
voted this year.

So in theory, there could have been more youth voters during yesterday's
election, but they were offset by the increase of SC's.

Also, because Obama overwhelming carried the youth vote in 2008,
republican legislatures throughout the country (including Wisconsin) are
trying to limit students from voting. So, aside from the 28 day residency
law that they passed, they also passed the voter ID law which mandated
that the voter produce a valid state Driver License ID. State University
Student ID's along with non-State University Student ID's were not allowed
as a valid form of a State ID. The courts struck this law as unconstitutional
because it adversely affected the elderly and poor and minorites
disproportionately.

[Igel]

7. The concern was with kids' coming home from school and not being able to vote.

Most kids I know have their driver's license or ID in their (original) home state, unless they're seeking to establish residency for in-state tuition purposes. If they're from WI and return home to WI, then they can vote. That means the point made is groundless.

If they sought to establish residency in the state they're attending college, then they've stated their commitment to not being a resident in WI and presumably voted as a resident in that state. To vote in WI would then mean they've committed fraud. In that case, there's a valid point--but a more serious issue in saying it's a good thing for a large number of students to commit fraud against another state.

[clffrdjk]

9. NO ID needed to vote or register in WI all I needed was a bill for my cell phone.

[pstokely]

11. Since the semester just ended, how many students were even there?

Most apartment leases begin and end in August before the Fall semester

[WI_DEM]

8. A summer recall when school is out did us no favors either.

[pstokely]

12. But how many out ot state students would even interested in the state election?

Students vote in the Presidential elections but them don't seem be interested in local elections

[midnight]

13. One of many tools to cheat and suppress the voters true intent....

[eowyn_of_rohan]

14. Has anyone heard anything about the US DOJ monitors in Milwaukee?

Where were they, any reports? Thanks