Emails Suggest Walker Aides Ran Illegal Vote-Purging Scheme

[sybylla]

Source: The Progressive

Voter caging is an illegal campaign practice used to purge voters from the rolls. Neighborhoods with large minority concentrations are most typically targeted by caging operations.

On page 15,037 of WalkerDocs 1, an email exchange between Walker staffers Kelly Rindfleisch and Nicole Simmons spells it out pretty plainly.

<snip>

Another email, on page 1,321 of WalkerDocs 2, shows Walker's chief of staff Keith Gilkes ordering Rindfleisch, Fran McLaughlin and Dorothy Moore to bring friends who can help with the caging effort. Here's a screenshot.

"We need cagers for this Saturday, we will have plenty to get caught up on," he wrote in an email sent Oct. 21, 2010. "Please bring friends that are detail oriented and can put in some solid hours."

Read more: http://www.progressive.org/emails-suggest-walker-aides-ran-illegal-vote-rigging-scheme

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Corrupt to the bone. These e-mails don't seem to be talking about money, but the illegal practices just keep piling up.

Sooooo good that this finally comes out in an election year. And his dipwit Lt. Gov won't stand a chance if he resigns.

[mwb970]

1. Christie, check. Walker, check. McCrory, check.

Next up: John Kasich of Ohio (fracking scandal brewing as we speak).

These republican governors are dropping like ducks in a shooting gallery. I thought these guys were the republican hope for the future.

[Myrina]

9. ... the power-structure behind the scenes is setting us for for Jeb Bush.

You know, the man from the family with all the secrets, spies and creepy associations?

[silvershadow]

20. That one family alone is responsible for caging actual democracy, since at least 1963. I have

no doubt you are correct on the power structure behind it all.

[Snarkoleptic]

31. I've been saying for months we're headed for a Clinton vs. Bush election.

Hopefully we can get Bernie Sanders to run in the primary in order to pull Hillary to the left.

[Le Taz Hot]

38. Hillary's not going to the left.

In her early years she was a Republican. The only thing that's changed is the letter next to her name. Her ideology hasn't moved an inch.

[dreamnightwind]

33. +1 - eom

[loudsue]

43. That is exactly what is going on. Jeb Bush is supposed to swoop in like superman

and save the republican party. You can actually SEE the whole thing unfolding right now. These assholes even destroy their own in order to win. They just don't have ANY principles. They don't stand for a damned thing except winning and throwing power around. They are sick bastards, every single one of them.

[blue neen]

10. Tom Corbett, check.

"Fewer than one-fourth of Pennsylvania voters think Gov. Tom Corbett (R) should be reelected, according to a Franklin & Marshall College poll released Thursday."

"The survey found that only 23 percent of Pennsylvania voters believe Corbett has done a good enough job to deserve reelection, while 63 percent believe it's time for a change. Even among his own party, just 42 percent said he should be reelected."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/30/tom-corbett-poll_n_4696360.html

[Merlot]

11. Gov Ultrasound, check and indicted.

That would be mcdonal? Thanks to RM, I can't remember his real name anymore.

And he's taking the mrs. with him.

[sinkingfeeling]

2. Duh! Caging is the GOP way to 'win'.

[unblock]

3. wow, they actually use the word "caging".

[Merlot]

13. That was pretty amazing - Caging is business as usual.

[Kelvin Mace]

16. This indicates how clever they

thought they were in setting up their "secret" network. They thought no one would ever see this stuff, so no need for doublespeak.

[calimary]

17. BINGO!

Good point, Kelvin Mace! CLEARLY they figured only friendly eyes, only insiders with a "need to know" would see this. No need to obfuscate or tiptoe around the terminology. LOVE IT!!!

That's exactly what it is.

[Kelvin Mace]

25. I am constantly amazed at how often politicans

get tripped up with their ignorance of technology. They were smart enough to realize that they needed their own secret network, but too stupid to understand that emails have headers which relate their route through cyberspace. Once one email from the "secret" network was routed to an "open" network, the jig was up. Anyone examining the email would know to look for a "hidden" network.

Also, they keep relying on free email services like Google gmail to work from, an organization that puts out cake and cookies out for law enforcement, and gives NSA their own parking space convenient to the server room.

[warrior1]

4. this has to be illegal right?

[tammywammy]

7. Yes, vote caging is illegal.

[HereSince1628]

8. Depends on the state's laws on challenging legitimacy of voters' registrations

Commonly this is an intelligence gathering techniques based on US mail. Letters are sent to addresses of registered voters...those letters that get returned suggest the registered voter is no longer at the address... and that registration is identified as to be challenged.

Caging has been used by Republicans since the 1950s.

It's all done under the cover language of election security and keeping fraud out of elections.

[sybylla]

15. In Wisconsin, we are special. Caging is illegal, as the article says, but...

We still have same day voter registration, so the standard caging activities don't really work.

In this case, if you read deeply into the article, one of the Koch Brothers' shadow groups, also part of the John Doe II probe going on now, sent out faulty voter registration forms. They didn't have the proper address, or they had the wrong election day, or some other BS thing was going on. I received a few of them myself and worked for a candidate whose supporters also received them.

I don't remember all the details of each BS registration mailing, but there were loads of them both before the November 2010 election and before the recalls.

So if a voter thought they were registered, then found out on election day that they weren't. They may have had to wait 2 hours in a line only to find out they didn't have the proper documents to get re-registered.

My next question is, if they were coordinating illegally with an outside group to do this, were they also coordinating to distribute GOTV flyers in Milwaukee and other places with the wrong election dates on them?

[yuiyoshida]

22. The question I have is...

Will anyone be prosecuted or will this be swept aside as normal. People like Walker get away with stuff and it seems there are no cops to deal with it, or perhaps they are paid to look the other way.

[sybylla]

27. It won't be swept aside as normal.

This may be part of the second John Doe investigation going on now. The authorities have subpoenaed the outside organizations as well as the Walker campaign an the WisGOP.

So the answer is...we'll see.

What's so frustrating is that we have a GOP AG who couldn't give two farts about this. Or anything else that relates to GOP malfeasance either.

[glinda]

42. Koch Bros & Walker joined at the hip.

It would be too much to hope for that they would be charged and found guilty of crimes and then locked up. I may start to pray....

[HereSince1628]

24. My limited knowledge of Son of Doe is that it's about campaign irregularities.

I don't know anything that hasn't been in the JS.

I was aware of targeted disinformation...including intimidation billboards and sample ballots with the wrong date.

For my part, voting means always carrying a current DL, a copy of my birth certificate, my library card, and a bank statement, just in case.


Change of subject...you brought up waiting in line....do you know how WI assigns # of voting machines per precinct/ward?

Are they using 'average' voter turn out over -all- elections in some specified time reference?

[sybylla]

26. Assigning machines is big-city stuff.

I live in the middle of nowhere. We tend to have one ballot scanner at each township. My understanding is that the larger municipalities own their equipment so I would assume the municipal clerks decide based on turnout. If there's a law on that, it's probably in the manuals available on the GAB website covering elections.

As for campaign irregularities, illegal coordination between outside groups who have been subpoenaed and the Walker campaign and the WisGOP are what I understand the Son of Doe to be about. I think this qualifies as illegal coordination if those in office were selecting names to be targeted with scam registration and GOTV documents by an outside group. You know, just to keep their official campaign fingers clean. I'm even hoping that phony hunter training grant is part of the investigation. It always sounded to me like a payoff for services rendered.

I'm with you on the voting docs. I always have something handy in case I have to re-register. Since 2010, the GOPpies in Madison have revised the voter registration rules and early voting a couple of times, so you never know what to expect at the polls.

[HereSince1628]

41. Yes, and Son of Doe involves suspected wrong doing in multiple counties.

It isn't clear to me if any of the emails released relate to Son of Doe in criminal manner.

I suspect that if they did they wouldn't have been released under an FOI request.

[dragonlady]

32. With optical scan machines, one per polling place is enough

From observations in Milwaukee: a polling place may combine two or even three wards, but only one scanning machine is needed--the voters can feed in ballots in seconds. Milwaukee usually has plenty of writing desks for filling out ballots in each location. The bottleneck, if there is one, is at the check-in table or the registration table. Chief inspectors try their best to make it work, sometimes by splitting a ward's poll book in half, thus making two lines instead of one. The election commission tries to hire enough poll workers so things will move along. It also wants to train volunteers who can help out by greeting voters, getting them in the correct line, and so forth

[HereSince1628]

40. Yes, I vote in an election place that serves 2 precincts

Each precinct has it's own single crew to check in voters, usually there are around 5 privacy kiosks and a single scanner. things move right along...lately on the service side that work are has been crowded because of observers.

[Scuba]

5. Screenshot of "caging request" email. This has got to be illegal.

[Iliyah]

6. Uh huh, and of course master walker knew nothing

[Xyzse]

12. I mean, from hearing about it, I was actually shocked on his re-election

Before and during his recall.

[Gothmog]

14. Vote caging is illegal

The Democratic Party have been very successful in suing to stop these programs

[calimary]

18. Well, I hope they do it here, too. And SOON.

[Dustlawyer]

19. Check, Gov. Good Hair, aka Gov. Dumbass, aka Rick Perry of Tx gone after this election!

Go Wendy!!!

[rustbeltvoice]

21. Well, ...

we all knew that Republicans win by cheating.

And until it becomes common for them to be jailed for illegal activities, and to serve the sentences it will continue.

But prosecuting known Republicans is not like prosecuting street criminals. The system enjoys the latter, and often (if not usually) ignores the possibility of the former.

And the public ignores all sorts of "bad behaviour" from Republicans.

Good, report these stories; but until they are wearing orange jumpers it doesn't matter much.

[NancyDL]

23. Jackasses and Thugs

Why do folk keep electing them? This is a serious question. We need to know this if we're going to put them out.

[sadoldgirl]

28. As far as I understand it

caging is illegal, but is it a criminal act or do people get to pay a fine. How often are these cheating attempts found out and publicized only after the election has long passed. Then a fine is just a small item after all.

[SoapBox]

29. Oh! And I'm just ***certain*** that we will hear all about this on the nightly news!

Crickets?

Silly me for thinking such a thought.

[Gman]

30. Can they win an election without breaking the law?

I don't think so.

[hue]

34. K&R for exposure!!

[lindysalsagal]

35. knr, but not holding my breath for a perp-walk any time soon.

Even with iron-clad evidence, sad to say.

[sakabatou]

36. Not surprised

[sellitman]

37. Email is really a clever Liberal tool used...

Email is really a clever Liberal tool used to entrap GOP nitwits into breaking the law.

[mzteris]

39. Um - maybe I shouldn't say this, but

we did that during the recall petitioning. We checked the signature and addresses of people signing petitions for the recall of Wisconsin Democratic Congressmen. Maybe because it was a petition and not a voter role it was then 'legal'. I dunno.

We did find people who didn't even exist or who had died or a whole page from a nursing home. So should it be illegal to "check"? ehhhhh....

[sybylla]

45. You weren't using the information to prevent anyone from voting.

You weren't trying to create a scenario in which their eligibility to vote could be challenged at the polls. The assumption was, when we went through the recall petitions, that some had intentionally signed with invalid information to spoil the recall effort.

You were trying to make sure you had enough legitimate signatures. An entirely different process and within the scope of the law.

If the work of Walker's minions was part of an effort to prevent legitimate voters from accessing the polls, then they may have broken the law.

The article doesn't go into too many details. I suppose they don't have those details. Walker's minions used the word "caging." What exactly they did with the information they were looking for needs to be explained and perhaps investigated. I assume that's what The Progressive reporter was going for.

[tridim]

44. Coup d'Koch. nt

[Tx4obama]

46. K&R n/t

[gopiscrap]

47. nail this fucker!!!

[sellitman]

48. Just like Christie, it was an underling, not the Govenor.

Why would you think a Republican would have any idea of what his staff was up to? He was shocked I'm sure.