Is the Romney team training campaign workers to mislead voters?
theGRIO REPORT - A Think Progress investigation has exposed parts of a misleading training manual being distributed to Mitt Romney volunteers in the crucial swing state of Wisconsin...
The source said the Romney campaign materials Sesek’s volunteers were distributing contained legally accurate information, though that information was heavily parsed. For instance, the source said Wisconsin Democrats’ claim that the training materials falsely lead voters to believe they need ID is incorrect, because the materials specify what types of identification are needed to register to vote. Wisconsin allows same-day voter registration at the polling place.
The Romney campaign materials aren’t the only ones raising red flags in Wisconsin.
A separate batch of “poll watcher” materials from True the Vote, a tea-party-linked organization that has pledged to send 1 million “poll watchers” to swing states to challenge voters who the watchers deem illegitimate at the polls, and to guard against alleged voter fraud, are also raising alarms. True the Vote was funded in part by the Bradley Foundation, which also financed a smaller foundation, the Einhorn Family Foundation, which in turn purchased anti “voter fraud” billboards in the Milwaukee area in 2010 and again in 2012.
According to a legal memo produced by the Institute for One Wisconsin, which works closely with the activist group One Wisconsin Now, the True the Vote materials contain:
- Incorrect and incomplete information regarding who may challenge a voter’s qualifications;
- Incomplete information about how an individual may verify their residence;
- Misinformation about how poll watchers may interact with poll workers; and
- Incorrect information on the timeline a voter may cure deficiencies that required them to cast a provisional ballot.
According to a news release by One Wisconsin Now:
True the Vote is relatively new to Wisconsin, but has been quickly embraced by the Wisconsin right wing infrastructure. In 2011, they received a $35,000 grant from the Milwaukee-based Bradley Foundation that had previously funded voter suppression billboards in Milwaukee, according to a joint investigation by One Wisconsin and theGrio. They were forced to return the funds, however, due to their failure to secure non-profit tax status.
In addition, True the Vote has partnered with the Virginia-based American Majority to recruit poll workers in Wisconsin. American Majority has received over $650,000 dollars in Bradley Foundation support.
[One Wisconsin Now’s Scot] Ross concluded, “Just like the right wing’s attempt to play the system for their political advantage with voter suppression billboards, any attempt to prevent legal voters who want to cast their ballot from doing so, and having that vote counted, will fail.”
Follow Joy Reid on Twitter at @thereidreport.
