Assembly GOP Convenes “Public Hearing” on Election Rules, Bars Testimony From Public

MADISON, Wis. — One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross released the following statements on the Republican-led Assembly Committee on Campaigns and Elections holding a so-called public hearing on potential rule changes to election administration that specifically bars the public from testifying.

“There is nothing more sacred in a democracy than the right to vote and our government ought to be working to protect and expand rights, not take them away. Unfortunately the right to vote has become the fight to vote today in Wisconsin. Republicans have offered schemes to end Election Day registration, slash early voting and purge legal voters. The one law they have passed to suppress the vote has been declared unconstitutional twice. There is no reason, other than an insatiable quest for partisan political advantage, to justify repealing laws that make it possible for millions of legal Wisconsin voters to do their civic duty and make their voices heard at the ballot box.”

After extensive investigation, fewer than two-dozen instances of improper voting have been charged in Wisconsin since 2005, in which time nearly 14 million votes were cast. One Wisconsin Now filed a comprehensive open records request with members of the state legislature requesting all documents related to evidence of voter impropriety. Not one document was produced by the Senate and Assembly Republicans to verify their claims of rampant voter impropriety.