Accusations of partisan politics and voter suppression have been on the rise with the recent passage of restrictive election reforms to require photo ID, cut early voting hours, or hinder voter registration drives in Republican-dominated states. But yesterday, Wisconsin added a new partisan ploy to the table when Democrats were targeted in a voter deception scheme by a conservative group before the August 9 recall elections.
Yesterday, Politico reported that conservative group, Americans for Prosperity was sending absentee ballots to Democrats in two districts, instructing them to return the ballots on August 11, two days after the actual elections to recall the seats of Republican state senators.
“The absentee trickery comes just as AFP has purchased $150,000 in ad time in Green Bay, Milwaukee and Madison to boost GOP candidates,” wrote Politico’s David Cantanese.
“Also, according to TPM, the return envelope address is one that’s been used by conservative group Wisconsin Family Action,” wrote Dan Tokaji, professor of Law at Moritz College of Law, in a recent Election Law Blog post. “This sounds like too clumsy a voter deception scheme to be true.”
TPM reports that there are two other recall elections on August 16, “but they are both a distance away from the recipients of these particular mailers.”
The AFP director told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that the August 11 date was a typo, not a voter deception scheme, and claimed that the mailer only went to their members.
“I’m sure the liberals will try to make a mountain out of a molehill in an attempt to distract voters’ attention from the issues,” he said.
Partisan politics or not, there are still efforts to alleviate the confusion that the mailers have caused among voters.
Yesterday, the Government Accountability Board issued a warning to voters about mailers and robo calls that give incorrect addresses and dates for the upcoming elections.
“If you need or want to vote absentee, contact your municipal clerk directly and request a ballot,” said Kevin Kennedy, Wisconsin’s chief election officer.
Today, the Wisconsin Democratic Party filed a formal complaint against the AFP for “falsely representing the time frame” of the upcoming elections, according to a Politico report.
Margaret Brick of the state Democratic Party wrote “[AFP] has displayed a continued pattern of tampering with the electoral process in Wisconsin with elaborate, illegal and fraudulent schemes designed to suppress Democratic votes.”