Wisconsin election official rattled by Pajamas Media and Washington Times coverage of Wisconsin's failure to comply with law
Officials with the state of Wisconsin have been rattled by a series of articles at Pajamas Media and in the Washington Times detailing their gross failure to comply with military voting guarantees in the MOVE Act. The Move Act requires states to mail ballots 45 days in advance of the election to overseas voters. Wisconsin proposed mailing them only 29 days in advance. The Washington Times and Pajamas Media pointed out this gross abdication of their responsibility under Federal law.
Kevin Kennedy, an official at the ill-named Wisconsin “Government Accountability Board,” didn’t like the attention Wisconsin was getting.
He chortled in a document obtained by Election Law Center:
“I find the the [sic] comments in the Washington Items [sic] and Pajamas Media grossly uninformed. The MOVE Act contained a waiver provision for states such as Wisconsin, where the Legislature did not have time to fully study changing its primary date for the November 2010 election. In Wisconsin the Legislature was clear that this was something they would look at very carefully in 2011.
As you know Wisconsin has been at the forefront of ensuring ballots for military voters are made available in electronic format because of our late primary.”
Bureaucrats get bristly when citizens question their performance.
Uninformed? Was it because we didn’t sing the praises of a state that left 29 days for overseas ballots to transit like the Pew Center did? Sure, we knew Pew Loves Wisconsin. But that isn’t good enough when you are breaking federal law.
Uninformed? Maybe it was because we didn’t give enough credit for the elaborate electronic delivery system for ballots. The Overseas Vote Foundation loves states that love those sytems – largely because it is a profit center for the OVF according to one state election official who spoke to Election Law Center. OVF sings the praises of the electronic delivery systems, because it pays the bills at OVF according to this state election official. Guess who don’t get to use electronic delivery systems – front line troops being shot at that don’t carry around computers, printers or fax machines. A student studying at the Sorbonne has no problem with ballots by email, but I’ll confess my priorities lie elsewhere right now.
Uniformed about the wavier provision? Hardly. Wisconsin didn’t deserve one and the Pentagon rightfully denied it.
There is something we admit to being entirely uniformed about, for now – what other nonsense the Wisconsin legislature had time to take up other than protecting military voting rights. Kennedy bristled: “the Legislature did not have time to fully study changing its primary date for the November 2010 election.” Really? Be glad we are uninformed on this point, because if Wisconsin is anything like Maryland, a whole lot of nonsense passed instead of military voting protections. But, hey, we’re willing to take on that project and look into what the other priorities were in Wisconsin if you want us too. But be careful what you wish for, with the mood the country is in, you might not like the results.
Wisconsin plans on looking at military voting rights “very carefully in 2011.” How nice. Who’s going to let the soldiers know it wasn’t real important in 2010?
Kevin Kennedy, an official at the ill-named Wisconsin “Government Accountability Board,” didn’t like the attention Wisconsin was getting.
He chortled in a document obtained by Election Law Center:
“I find the the [sic] comments in the Washington Items [sic] and Pajamas Media grossly uninformed. The MOVE Act contained a waiver provision for states such as Wisconsin, where the Legislature did not have time to fully study changing its primary date for the November 2010 election. In Wisconsin the Legislature was clear that this was something they would look at very carefully in 2011.
As you know Wisconsin has been at the forefront of ensuring ballots for military voters are made available in electronic format because of our late primary.”
Bureaucrats get bristly when citizens question their performance.
Uninformed? Was it because we didn’t sing the praises of a state that left 29 days for overseas ballots to transit like the Pew Center did? Sure, we knew Pew Loves Wisconsin. But that isn’t good enough when you are breaking federal law.
Uninformed? Maybe it was because we didn’t give enough credit for the elaborate electronic delivery system for ballots. The Overseas Vote Foundation loves states that love those sytems – largely because it is a profit center for the OVF according to one state election official who spoke to Election Law Center. OVF sings the praises of the electronic delivery systems, because it pays the bills at OVF according to this state election official. Guess who don’t get to use electronic delivery systems – front line troops being shot at that don’t carry around computers, printers or fax machines. A student studying at the Sorbonne has no problem with ballots by email, but I’ll confess my priorities lie elsewhere right now.
Uniformed about the wavier provision? Hardly. Wisconsin didn’t deserve one and the Pentagon rightfully denied it.
There is something we admit to being entirely uniformed about, for now – what other nonsense the Wisconsin legislature had time to take up other than protecting military voting rights. Kennedy bristled: “the Legislature did not have time to fully study changing its primary date for the November 2010 election.” Really? Be glad we are uninformed on this point, because if Wisconsin is anything like Maryland, a whole lot of nonsense passed instead of military voting protections. But, hey, we’re willing to take on that project and look into what the other priorities were in Wisconsin if you want us too. But be careful what you wish for, with the mood the country is in, you might not like the results.
Wisconsin plans on looking at military voting rights “very carefully in 2011.” How nice. Who’s going to let the soldiers know it wasn’t real important in 2010?
Posted by Christian Adams at September 16, 2010 
Categories: uncategorized
Tags: Wisconsin Military Voting MOVE
Categories: uncategorized
Tags: Wisconsin Military Voting MOVE
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