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UW campus police start Twitter fight with student
The UW-Madison Police Department is facing blowback from students after issuing a tweet Monday morning criticizing the personal beliefs of the chair of UW-Madison student government. Late Sunday night, Matthew Mitnick, chair of Associated Students of Madison (ASM), tweeted the link to a letter to the editor published in the student newspaper, the Badger Herald. […]
‘De facto disenfranchisement’: outside groups work to make sure jailed voters can cast a ballot
There are about 12,500 people in Wisconsin’s county jails at any given time, according to the Wisconsin Department of Corrections. Most of those people are serving misdemeanor sentences or have been charged with a crime but not yet convicted and are in jail before trial because they can’t afford to post bail. None of these […]
Appeals court strikes down extension of election deadlines
A federal appeals court ruled Thursday to strike down a previous court ruling that extended deadlines and loosened rules for November’s presidential election. In a 2-1 decision, the 7th District Court of Appeals found that District Court Judge William Conley had moved to change election rules too close to the election. In September, Conley had […]
List maintenance or voter suppression: How the practice of maintaining voter lists became polarized
In the last decade, millions of registered voters across the country have been removed from voter rolls. In 2019, Ohio removed more than 460,000 voter registration files from its list. Georgia removed 313,000 people from its rolls in October 2019 alone, and in Michigan, from 2011 to 2018, 1.2 million voters were removed from voter […]
No charges against Mensah for killing of 17-year-old
Wauwatosa Police Officer Joseph Mensah will not face charges for shooting and killing 17-year-old Alvin Cole in February, the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office announced Wednesday. Cole was the third person killed by Mensah in five years. “In this case, there is sufficient evidence that Officer Mensah had an actual subjective belief that deadly force […]
The progressive policy proposal in the deep red 5th Congressional District election
Tom Palzewicz is running as a Democrat against one of the most well known and powerful Republicans in the Wisconsin State Legislature, Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald. Palzewicz is running that race in the red 5th Congressional District to replace the retiring Jim Sensenbrenner — who has been in Congress since the Carter administration. Palzewicz’ […]
Miller Park, Fiserv Forum will no longer be used as early voting locations
The city of Milwaukee will no longer be able to use Fiserv Forum and Miller Park as locations for early voting, the Milwaukee Elections Commission announced Tuesday. The stadiums will not be eligible because the city did not include them on its list of early voting locations in June when state statute required they be […]
Despite attacks from president, Wisconsinites vote absentee in huge numbers
In the wake of attacks from President Donald Trump on the validity of mail-in voting and accusations of fraud, Wisconsin Elections Commission Administrator Meagan Wolfe reassured voters of the system’s integrity and updated the numbers of ballots already requested, sent and received. At a virtual press conference held Thursday, Wolfe said that Wisconsin’s municipal clerks […]
‘Y’all messed it up last time’
Amanda Battle was six months away from turning 18 when she watched, powerless to do anything, as Donald Trump was elected president. Emily Peters watched, furious that she couldn’t vote and Jaida Shellaugh was so stressed she went to sleep, pushing the news until the next morning. Battle, Peters and Shellaugh, along with most other […]
Community groups demand action to prevent virus spread, protect health and education
A group of community organizations in Milwaukee and the Milwaukee and Madison teachers’ unions called for more action from Wisconsin’s leaders to protect health and education in Wisconsin. The coalition demanded that the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) move education online in all of Wisconsin’s public and private schools, colleges and universities as the […]
WILL tells Supreme Court that 5% error rate in voter purge is okay
No clear indication was given on how the Wisconsin Supreme Court would rule in a case to decide whether nearly 130,000 Wisconsin voter registration records should stay on the voter rolls after oral arguments were held Tuesday. At issue in the case is the ERIC Movers list, a database maintained by more than 30 states […]
Federal judge won’t decide on student ID voting requirements before election
In a federal lawsuit challenging Wisconsin’s laws on the acceptance of student IDs for voting, a federal judge ruled Wednesday that he wouldn’t weigh in before the general election to avoid “chaos and confusion.” The plaintiffs counter that this causes unnecessary obstacles for student voters. The lawsuit, Common Cause Wisconsin and Benjamin Quintero v. Wisconsin […]