Scott Walker’s Record on Voter Suppression

Republican Gov. Scott Walker raised the issue six days after Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Rebecca Dallet, who was backed by liberals, won election to the high court. Her win in the officially nonpartisan race raised hopes among Democrats of a “blue wave” of election victories, including denying Walker a third term in November 2018. Walker was interviewed April 9, 2018 by Jay Weber, a conservative talk show host on WISN-AM in Milwaukee. Referring to Dallet’s defeat of Michael Screnock, a Sauk County circuit judge backed by Walker and other conservatives, Walker said: “Even Tuesday’s election for the Supreme Court — which, in the end, kind of boiled down to a ballot test between parties, even though it’s supposedly nonpartisan, and that’s really because Eric Holder and his group came in and made it highly partisan.” … Holder came to Wisconsin in March 2018, a few weeks before election day, to campaign for Dallet. And a group he leads said it and its affiliates spent more than $500,000 backing Dallet. That added a national partisan dimension to the campaign. But you can’t get any more partisan than a political party, and county Republican Party groups started backing Screnock months earlier, in November 2017. Ultimately, Republican Party groups, led by the state party, backed Screnock to the tune of some $400,000. For a statement that contains only some truth, we give Walker a Mostly False.

[PolitiFact, 04/11/2018]

After an unprecedented three-month delay, Gov. Scott Walker finally called for special elections in two legislative districts that have lacked representation since December. Better late than never, but things should have never dragged out so long. Wisconsin law holds that a governor must call for special elections as quickly as possible to fill vacated seats. Once the call is made, the elections must be held within 62 to 77 days. Simple enough.

[Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 03/30/2018]

"This raises serious questions about the connections between Scott Walker’s 2014 re-election and 2015 presidential campaigns and this growing international scandal from the 2016 election that saw Wisconsin surprisingly go Republican for president for the first time in 32 years," said Analiese Eicher, program director at the liberal group One Wisconsin Now. [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 03/29/2018]

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker has had quite the duel with his state’s judicial system in recent days. First he dragged his feet in calling general elections to fill two legislative vacancies that he created by appointments. When a state judge told him to do his job and call the elections, Walker then threatened to call a special session of the legislature to get the underlying law changed. But after failing to get an extension of state circuit court judge Josann Reynolds’ order for long enough to get the legislature back to Madison, Walker chose not to risk a contempt charge. He’s scheduling special elections in the two districts (one for the Senate, one for the Assembly) for June 12, with primaries on May 15.

[New York Magazine, 03/29/2018]

A sitting governor trying to tell a court that special elections are “unnecessary” is outrageous. It is especially ridiculous given that, as One Wisconsin Now notes, “Two thirds of the offices Scott Walker has held came because he won a special election, including one for State Assembly and one held in an even year.” [Shareblue, 03/28/2018]

Gov. Scott Walker, who has created a constitutional crisis in Wisconsin by canceling special elections required under state law, was himself elected in special elections to two of the three offices he has held during his nearly 25 years in elected office. With a hearing on Walker’s constitutional end-around bill set today for the Senate Elections and Utilities Committee, Scot Ross, One Wisconsin Now Executive Director, reiterated Walker’s “galactic hypocrisy,” adding that Republican committee member and likely committee deciding vote Chris Kapenga was also elected to his current office in a special election.

[One Wisconsin Now, 03/28/2018]

“The elections would create pressure points for people,” Scot Ross, executive director of the progressive group One Wisconsin Now, told TPM. “The GOP has a couple of people who have announced they’re going to be leaving. They have people who are going to be in competitive elections. This may be the thing that would make them want to be less partisan in the creation of their maps, and Scott Walker and the leadership does not want that to happen.” [Talking Points Memo, 03/26/2018]

 A Dane County judge, appointed by Gov. Scott Walker, today ruled that Walker cannot refuse to call special elections to fill vacancies in the 1st State Senate and 42nd Assembly Districts.

[One Wisconsin Now, 03/22/2018]

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker isn’t saying whether he will immediately call special elections for a pair of legislative vacancies as ordered by a judge. Dane County Circuit Judge Josann Reynolds rejected all of Walker’s arguments against calling the elections Thursday. She gave him until March 29 to issue an order calling the elections.

[Associated Press, 03/22/2018]

Mike Browne, deputy director of the progressive organization One Wisconsin Now, said the governor is stalling. "His argument is basically that, well, 2017, last year, wasn't an election year so he's not under any obligation to call it,” Browne said; “which is really kind of ridiculous on its face when you consider basically what that means is that the seats will be open even longer." [Public News Service, 03/07/2018]

“Having this conversation happen about the fact that Scott Walker is afraid to hold elections when he’s on the ballot in nine months is not the worst story to have out there,” said Scot Ross of the progressive group One Wisconsin Now. [Talking Points Memo, 03/02/2018]

A national Democratic group led by former U.S. Attorney Eric Holder filed a lawsuit Monday attempting to force Republican Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker to call two special elections to fill legislative vacancies. Walker has refused to call special elections for the seats that became open two weeks before a surprise Democratic victory in a state Senate special election in a district that had been in Republican hands for 17 years. Both of the vacancies are in traditionally Republican districts.

[Associated Press, 02/27/2018]

The Wisconsin Senate voted Tuesday to oust leaders of the bipartisan state agencies charged with running elections and overseeing ethics laws, the latest move by Republicans to exact revenge on anyone connected with a now-closed investigation into Gov. Scott Walker and other conservatives. The highly unusual Senate vote was designed to force out two former employees of the now-shuttered agency that approved the Walker probe who were later selected to head the newly created bipartisan Elections and Ethics commissions.

[Associated Press, 01/24/2018]

Gov. Scott Walker’s unwillingness to criticize Donald Trump by name for coddling of white nationalists in the wake of the horrific violence in Charlottesville, Virginia this weekend is a shameful addition to Walker’s appalling record on issues of race. One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross pointed to Walker’s record stretching back two decades to his days in the State Assembly as evidence his silence is not just cowardice, but a pattern of behavior.

[One Wisconsin Now, 08/16/2017]

Gov. Scott Walker’s unwillingness to criticize Donald Trump’s coddling of white nationalists in the wake of the horrific violence in Charlottesville, Virginia this weekend is a shameful reminder that Walker will always put his own partisan political interests ahead of doing what is right for all peoples of Wisconsin. This includes a series of unconstitutional and racist attacks on the right to vote in Wisconsin for people of color.

[One Wisconsin Now, 08/16/2017]

One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross today called for a response from Gov. Scott Walker to a bombshell revelation that the campaign of Donald Trump may have directed an effort by a hostile foreign power to influence Wisconsin voters. According to a news report, the ongoing federal investigations into collusion between Donald Trump’s campaign and Russia is investigating whether the Trump campaign helped guide Russian backed fake news attacks against Hillary Clinton that targeted key demographics and voting precincts in Wisconsin.

[One Wisconsin Now, 07/13/2017]

Scott Walker has shown he is willing to manipulate the rules on voting to give himself and his fellow Republicans an unfair partisan advantage, signing into law numerous measures to make voting harder and more complicated for Wisconsinites. He’s also willing to ignore his record when it comes to the chase for campaign cash, appealing to people to demonstrate their “love for American democracy” by sending him a campaign contribution.

[One Wisconsin Now, 07/12/2017]

In Wisconsin, liberals were quick to pounce. One Wisconsin Now called on Gov. Scott Walker to, in their words, protect Wisconsin voters' privacy from Donald Trump. [Rhinelander Daily News, 07/06/2017]

As outrage and denunciations of the request for sensitive, personal information about voters from Donald Trump’s commission on elections spreads across the country, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker continues to dodge the issue. In publicly reported comments, Walker, who has led the state GOP’s efforts to manipulate the rules on voting to gain unfair partisan advantage, claimed, “You don’t want a politician, you don’t want a Republican or Democrat directly involved …”

[One Wisconsin Now, 07/05/2017]

A commission established by Donald Trump is asking states to turn over sensitive personal information about registered voters, including portions of social security numbers, birth date, voting history and any information about individual’s partisan political preference. One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross today demanded Gov. Scott Walker protect our privacy and the integrity of our electoral system and refuse any request from the Trump administration for Wisconsin voter information not currently available to the public.

[One Wisconsin Now, 06/30/2017]

A former Republican legislative aide who worked as a top aide to Gov. Scott Walker during his first nine months in office was tapped Monday to serve on the Wisconsin Elections Commission. Jodi Jensen will replace original commission member Don Millis, who submitted his resignation letter on Friday. He said he could no longer serve due to commitments with his Sun Prairie law practice. Millis is the first of the commission’s six members to resign since the panel was created in June 2016.

[Wisconsin State Journal, 03/07/2017]

The state agency tasked with overseeing state elections will have lost nearly a third of its staff in two years if a proposal from Gov. Scott Walker is approved by lawmakers later this year. The governor’s 2017-19 state budget proposal eliminates six positions within the state Elections Commission. Michael Haas, the commission’s administrator, said this proposal, combined with position reductions in the current biennium, would lead to a nearly 30 percent reduction of the agency’s staff since 2015.

[Wisconsin State Journal, 02/11/2017]

Gov. Scott Walker is defending his rigging of the rules on voting to give himself and his fellow Republicans an unfair partisan advantage by repeatedly making the demonstrably false assertion that measures like voter ID, “made it easier to vote and harder to cheat.” One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross noted that the more things change, the more they stay the same with Walker, citing the recent Milwaukee Journal Sentinel series about Gov. Walker’s rise to power that reported in 2004, as the state co-chair of George W. Bush’s presidential campaign, “His duties included stoking fears of voter fraud.”

[One Wisconsin Now, 12/01/2016]

"It remains disappointing that even after being called out in federal court for its behavior, Gov. (Scott) Walker's administration continues to fail legal Wisconsin voters," said Scot Ross, executive director of One Wisconsin Institute, one of the plaintiffs. "The question today is not, 'Can Gov. Walker's administration take more steps to try to prevent legal voters from being disenfranchised?' but 'Why won't it?'" [Associated Press, 10/25/2016]

"It remains disappointing that even after being called out in federal court for its behavior, Gov. Walker's administration continues to fail legal Wisconsin voters," said Scot Ross, executive director of One Wisconsin Institute, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, in a prepared statement. "The question today is not can Gov. Walker's administration take more steps to try to prevent legal voters from being disenfranchised, but why won't it?" [Wisconsin Public Radio, 10/24/2016]

Gov. Scott Walker may be hiding from his endorsed Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s appearance in Green Bay later today, but Trump will be echoing Walker’s discredited talking points claiming fraud in state elections. Despite Walker’s decades-long claims of voter fraud, under oath his administration was unable to provide any evidence in One Wisconsin Institute’s successful federal lawsuit tossing out many of Walker’s voter suppression laws as unconstitutional.

[One Wisconsin Now, 10/17/2016]

Gov. Scott Walker’s administration is failing to properly administer the state voter ID law after the ruling in the federal voting rights lawsuit One Wisconsin Institute, et. al. v. Mark Thomsen, et. al., according to recent media reports of state Department of Motor Vehicle offices providing incorrect information to individuals seeking voter IDs. As a result, trial Judge James Peterson ordered the state to investigate these reports and provide him with information on their findings. The report was filed today.

[One Wisconsin Institute, 10/07/2016]

Explosive documents from the 2012 investigation of Gov. Scott Walker’s campaign and political corruption in Wisconsin reveal conservatives' strategy to make baseless accusations of voting impropriety to question the results of an election they thought they had lost. In an email chain, Republican insiders, concerned that conservative Justice David Prosser had lost his 2011 election bid, hatched a scheme to question the legitimacy of the election by enlisting the support of right wing radio to spread allegations of fraudulent voting.

[One Wisconsin Now, 09/15/2016]

Gov. Scott Walker downplayed the significance of the city of Madison extending its early voting hours after a federal court ruling overturned restrictions he signed into law. “For me, my primary focus had been on making sure that it’s easy to vote but hard to cheat,” Walker said, adding that he was pleased the state’s voter ID requirement was upheld by a federal court of appeals. “In terms of the other provisions out there, those were some of the things that the Legislature debated on, but our primary focus is on making sure that a strong form of voter ID is in place. At the same time, we make it easy for people to get access to that identification if they’re eligible to vote,” he said.

[Racine Journal Times, 08/18/2016]

A federal judge on Friday threw out as unconstitutional a host of Wisconsin election laws passed in recent years, saying they unfairly benefited Republicans who had enacted them and made it more difficult for Democrats to vote. U.S. District Judge James Peterson’s ruling keeps in place the state’s voter identification law, unlike recent rulings in North Carolina and Texas, but he ordered broad changes. The sweeping ruling was a defeat for Republican Gov. Scott Walker and the GOP-controlled Legislature. It will not affect Wisconsin’s upcoming Aug 9 primary, but will take effect for the Nov. 8 presidential election unless overturned on appeal… He called the state’s current process for getting free IDs to people who lack such documents “a wretched failure” because it has left a number of overwhelmingly black and Hispanic citizens unable to obtain IDs.

[Los Angeles Times, 07/29/2016]

Among Wisconsinites who lack ID cards and other documents proving their identity, race is a key factor in who requests free IDs to vote and whose requests are approved, according to data cited Monday in a court trial of a challenge to the state’s voter ID requirement… On Monday, the plaintiffs highlighted DMV data showing racial disparities in those who requested free IDs, as well as which of those requests were rejected. Two-thirds of the 981 people who used the petition process to request free IDs through April 19 were minorities, who make up 12 percent of the state’s citizen voting age population. That’s according to data submitted by the DMV to Allan Lichtman, an expert witness for the plaintiffs… Gov. Scott Walker earlier this month issued a rule he said is aimed at helping people to vote in the November election if they’re stalled in the petition process.

[Wisconsin State Journal, 05/24/2016]

Some voters might not have been able to cast ballots this fall if not for a new state rule put in place on the eve of a trial over Wisconsin’s voter ID law, the official responsible for issuing ID cards testified Monday. Her testimony came as the federal judge hearing the trial expressed serious concern about voters who have found themselves in a Catch-22 in getting IDs needed to vote because they lack birth certificates or other key documents…Some people have found themselves caught up in that process for months and, at least in one case, for nearly two years. These are the voters who the judge described as stuck. Just before the trial started, GOP Gov. Scott Walker approved new state rules that will allow such people to quickly get temporary receipts with their photos printed on them that they can use for voting while they wait for a determination on whether they can get a state-issued ID… During Monday’s exchanges, lawyers for the plaintiffs homed in on racial disparities, noting minorities make up a big share of those needing ID cards because they don’t have driver’s licenses, as well as a large chunk of those facing the toughest time getting IDs.

[Appleton Post-Crescent, 05/23/2016]

The move comes just days before the state goes to trial over a challenge to Wisconsin's Voter ID law by the liberal group One Wisconsin Now, which claims that obtaining a state ID is so difficult some would-be eligible voters are simply giving up. [WKOW-TV, 05/11/2016]

[Wisconsin State Journal, 05/11/2016]

Gov. Scott Walker and Assembly Speaker Robin Vos have in public comments both suggested the absence of an educational campaign on the state voter ID law is in part due to the lawsuits over the law. One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross blasted Walker and Vos, driving forces behind state GOP schemes to manipulate the rules on voting for an unfair partisan advantage, for their stunning hypocrisy.

[One Wisconsin Now, 04/28/2016]

The Wisconsin primary will be the first big test of the state's controversial voter ID law. Scot Ross, Executive Director of Wisconsin Now, joins Al Sharpton to discuss. [MSNBC, 04/03/2016]

According to media and reports from election administration officials a technology failure at Gov. Scott Walker’s Department of Administration means election officials and voters have lost access to the state voter registration system and the Department of Motor Vehicles is unable to process requests for voter IDs.

[One Wisconsin Now, 04/01/2016]

A state Supreme Court justice on Tuesday urged Gov. Scott Walker to allow people to use veterans ID cards to vote after her uncle who fought at Iwo Jima was unable to cast a ballot in last week’s primary election. “It makes no sense to me that this proud patriot with a veterans card displaying his photo would be turned away from the polls and denied the right to vote,” Justice Ann Walsh Bradley wrote to the Republican governor. In her letter, Bradley said her uncle had fought at Iwo Jima, the bloody World War II battle that was immortalized in a photo of the U.S. flag being raised on the tiny Pacific island.

[Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 02/23/2016]

Gov. Scott Walker privately signed a measure Wednesday loosening the state’s campaign finance laws and eliminating the state elections and ethics agency that investigated his campaign for teaming up with conservative groups.

[Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 12/16/2015]

To rally support for a GOP bill to break apart Wisconsin’s agency that oversees elections and ethics matters, Gov. Scott Walker is casting the Government Accountability Board as incompetent. At one point, he stormed Twitter using the #ReformGAB hashtag. In one Oct. 13, 2015 tweet, he claimed the agency wanted to consider Mickey Mouse and Adolf Hitler as valid signatures on recall petitions — a claim we rated False. In another tweet from the series that day, Walker wrote: “GAB ignored their duties & did not regularly audit the voter rolls to remove all felons – for a span of 16 elections. #ReformGAB”… He said the ignored duty was meant to remove felons. But the post-election felon audit is a final check to see if any felons voted, not primarily to remove them from voter rolls. That effort comes earlier in the process, and is done mainly by local clerks…

[PolitiFact, 11/06/2015]

A spokeswoman for Gov. Scott Walker said he supports overall reform of the GAB, and he “looks forward to working with lawmakers on a replacement for the GAB that is fair, transparent, and accountable to Wisconsinites.”

[Capital Times, 10/21/2015]

Republican legislative leaders, with the support of Gov. Scott Walker, are unveiling their latest scheme to manipulate election and ethics laws in Wisconsin to gain an unfair, partisan advantage for themselves.

[One Wisconsin Institute, 10/07/2015]

Scot Ross says it’s harder to get a state ID in Wisconsin, in part because DMV offices don’t offer enough hours and locations for people to apply, and the process can require steps. “The disparity between the two states makes voter ID impossible to administer constitutionally,” Ross says. [WUWM-FM, 03/11/2015]

 One Wisconsin Now is demanding Gov. Scott Walker publicly apologize for the comments of Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, who claimed at a pro-Walker event in Sheboygan Saturday that “Democrats are doing GOTFV — Get out the fraudulent vote.”

[One Wisconsin Now, 11/02/2014]

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker defended his voter ID law Friday night during the first gubernatorial debate with Democratic challenger Mary Burke. Walker said that the voter ID law, which the U.S. Supreme Court just blocked from being enforced, is worthwhile if it stops one person from fraudulently casting a ballot. Burke pointed to studies that show some 300,000 Wisconsin residents lack the necessary forms and identification, disproportionately people of color, and said there’s no evidence of fraud. She called it “shocking” that he’d stop 300,000 people from voting to stop one instance of fraud.

[Politico, 10/11/2014]

“Data shows that women are more likely than men to lack the kind of identification needed to meet new voting requirements. Obtaining proper ID can require costly documents, and women are more likely than men to be poor. Women are also more likely to have to deal with name changes in the wake of marriages and divorces, and make up a greater proportion of the millions of elderly Americans without ID. In Wisconsin specifically, research conducted by the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee found that 59% of Hispanic women, 49% of African American women, and 17% of white women were without a valid driver’s license in 2002.”

[MSNBC, 10/09/2014]

 One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross released the following statements following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision blocking implementation of Wisconsin’s photo ID law.

[One Wisconsin Now, 10/09/2014]

 Mere weeks before the November elections, Gov. Walker and election regulators have chosen to impose a photo ID requirement. Subsequent Republican partisan political games and bumbling by state election regulators endangers efforts to quickly raise awareness of the new requirement. One Wisconsin Now today called on Wisconsin media outlets to donate free airtime and ad space to help publicize the new requirements for voting and how to comply.

[One Wisconsin Now, 10/07/2014]

 Today the Federal 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, by a 5-5 vote, decided it will not hear en banc a challenge to the Wisconsin voter ID law. A three judge panel of the 7th Circuit Court previously lifted the injunction on imposition of a photo ID requirement for voting in Wisconsin.

[One Wisconsin Now, 09/26/2014]

 In an amicus brief filed today with the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in the case Frank v. Walker, One Wisconsin Institute shares research with the court demonstrating Wisconsin citizens have significantly less access to the state Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to obtain a state identification than citizens in Indiana. According to One Wisconsin Institute Executive Director Scot Ross, the comparison is critical to differentiating Wisconsin from Indiana, where a split decision by the U.S. Supreme Court upheld that state’s voter ID law.

[One Wisconsin Institute, 09/22/2014]

The following are the statements of U.S. Army veteran and UW-Waukesha student Saul Newton delivered at a community event on the recent 7th Circuit Court decision lifting an injunction on the enforcement of a photo ID requirement for voting in Wisconsin:

[One Wisconsin Now, 09/16/2014]

Gov. Scott Walker praised a court ruling that requires voter identification at polls and offered details regarding new state budget proposals Tuesday during his visit to Lake Hallie. “The bottom line is we want it to be easy to vote and hard to cheat,” Walker said in remarks to the media after a grand opening ceremony for Mid-State International Trucks of Wisconsin. Walker said the state has removed the cost barriers to getting an identification card. “We’d want (a drug test), at minimum, upon entry into the system,” Walker said Tuesday. “The best way we can help them out is make them able to be employed.” Walker’s plans also call for a requirement that able-bodied people without children be eligible for unemployment benefits for no more than four years. In addition, he said he will push for continuation of a higher education tuition freeze he hopes to expand to include the state’s technical colleges. [Eau Claire Leader-Telegram, 09/16/2014]

Friday morning, a three-judge panel heard Walker’s appeal to the federal ruling that previously struck down his Photo ID voting restriction law. By afternoon, almost immediately following the hearing, the three GOP-appointed federal judges (a Reagan appointee, and two George W. Bush appointees) restored the restrictive voting measure [PDF] in advance of the November general election...The ruling overturns the decision by U.S. District Court Judge Lynn Adelman which had struck down Wisconsin’s “Act 23″ in April. At the time, in his landmark federal ruling, Adelman, a Bill Clinton-appointee, found that some 300,000 registered voters in the state, approximately 9% of all registered voters, lacked the state-issued Photo ID necessary to legally vote under the new statute. That number, he noted, was far larger than the margin of victory enjoyed by Walker and other statewide officials in the 2010 election.“To put this number in context,” Adelman wrote, “in 2010 the race for governor in Wisconsin was decided by 124,638 votes, and the race for United States Senator was decided by 105,041 votes. Thus, the number of registered voters who lack a qualifying ID is large enough to change the outcome of Wisconsin elections.”

[Salon, 09/15/2014]

Then-Milwaukee County Executive and Republican gubernatorial candidate Scott Walker directed his assistant administrator to “please help him out,” after being asked by Stephen Einhorn for information that was ultimately used in dozens of voter intimidation billboards that were placed around Milwaukee in the weeks leading up to Walker’s election as governor.

[One Wisconsin Now, 09/12/2014]

A venture fund manager consulted with then-Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker about state and federal voting laws in 2010, just weeks before the businessman began posting controversial ads on billboards in Milwaukee that warned "Voter Fraud is a Felony." "Scott, I need to know the rules for illegal voting in Wisconsin," Stephen Einhorn wrote in an email on July 22, 2010. "Please check into the rules, including federal statutes. I need to know what the law is, if you violate it." Einhorn continued, "I need this for some work that I am doing, and would appreciate your prompt response." Walker forwarded the email to Cheryl Berdan, an assistant administrator in his office with the instructions, "Please help him out."... Einhorn and his wife, Nancy, have given Walker $50,350 over the past decade, according to the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign. Michael Grebe, head of the Bradley Foundation and Walker's campaign chairman, has acknowledged that the foundation helped underwrite the cost of the billboards in Walker's 2010 race through a $10,000 grant to the Einhorn Foundation. Einhorn said his foundation received the money from the Bradley Foundation after the billboards had already been posted. Previously, Einhorn said he footed the bill for the 2012 race. [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 09/11/2014]

 Gov. Scott Walker, who plunged the state to last in the Midwest in jobs on his watch, is touting a “Wisconsin comeback” in his stump speeches and TV ads. As Wisconsin celebrates Women’s Equality Day and the 94th anniversary of passage of the 19th amendment grating women the right to vote, One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross noted the unwelcome “comeback” under Walker of regressive policies that hurt women and their families.

[One Wisconsin Now, 08/26/2014]

Gov. Scott Walker and Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen are asking a federal court to reinstate Wisconsin's voter ID law, but they have not finalized a plan to comply with a different court's decision requiring the state to provide IDs to people who don't have birth certificates.

[Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 08/24/2014]

The Wisconsin State Supreme Court’s decision on Gov. Scott Walker’s discriminatory Voter Identification bill utterly ignores the inaccessibility of Department of Motor Vehicles, compared to Indiana, where the law was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court. While today’s action will have no immediate effect on voters due to a federal case before the courts, several facts make the state courts ruling all the more alarming.

[One Wisconsin Now, 07/31/2014]

 The most recent Marquette University Law School poll finds Gov. Scott Walker in a dead heat with all voters and badly trailing his opponent Mary Burke by a 48 to 35 percent margin among younger voters between the ages of 18 and 29. According to One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross, Walker’s dramatic age gap provides an explanation for why younger voters were targeted in the state with a voter ID law and other onerous new restrictions making it more complicated and difficult for them to vote.

[One Wisconsin Now, 07/24/2014]

The Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty is not simply a conservative, public interest law firm. It is a virtual extension of the political apparatus surrounding Gov. Scott Walker, engaging in ‘issue litigation’ to advance and protect his interests.

[One Wisconsin Now, 07/11/2014]

 In a letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, One Wisconsin Now is requesting the federal Department of Justice (DOJ) send observers to Wisconsin for the November 2014 General Election. Federal DOJ election observers were previously in the state in 2012, and One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross cited recent law changes and the state GOP's record of animus towards select groups of voters in requesting their presence again.

[One Wisconsin Now, 05/06/2014]

 Federal Judge Lynn Adelman today issued a ruling striking down Wisconsin's voter ID law. In his opinion, Adelman cited the almost complete lack of voting impropriety - including no instances of in-person voter impersonation - in finding the law created an impermissible burden on legal voters.

[One Wisconsin Now, 04/29/2014]

Mike Browne, Deputy Director of One Wisconsin Now and the Institute sat down with Al Jazeera to discuss Gov. Scott Walker’s and the GOP’s attacks on the right to vote in Wisconsin. [Al Jazeera, 04/10/2014]

The liberal group One Wisconsin Now, Mayor Tom Barrett, elected officials and community activists gathered at City Hall Thursday to urge Gov. Scott Walker to veto a bill that would limit early voting. Scot Ross, executive director of One Wisconsin Now, urged Walker to veto the measure, saying Wisconsin citizens want to have high and active participation in the voting process. Asked if his organization and other opposed to the bill would go to court if Walker signs the bill, Ross said all possibilities are being explored. “This fight will not end if the governor signs this bill,” Ross said. [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 03/27/2014]

Acting out of the public eye on controversial measures, Gov. Scott Walker signed asbestos liability legislation Thursday opposed by a number of veterans groups and used a partial veto to loosen new restrictions on early voting opposed by Democrats. Wielding his pen privately on a stack of 31 bills, Walker approved a number of elections bills Thursday, including the absentee voting measure and another one to give lobbyists more time to give campaign donations to state officials. In the early-voting measure, Walker used his partial veto powers — the most powerful in the nation — to nix language restricting early voting hours in Milwaukee and other cities to 45 hours a week while leaving in place a provision to prohibit early voting on weekends. Democrats and Milwaukee officials have decried those voting limits as the latest effort by the GOP to make it harder for minorities, veterans, the elderly and students to vote, saying it amounted to "fixing elections" rather than problems.

[Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 03/27/2014]

 Despite widespread public opposition, Gov. Scott Walker quietly signed into law new restrictions on early voting today. Walker's acquiescence to the latest racist, anti-voter scheme by Republicans eliminates weekend early voting in Wisconsin and outlaws municipalities offering citizens the ability to vote in the two weeks prior to Election Day before 8am or after 7pm.

[One Wisconsin Now, 03/27/2014]

 Late Thursday night the Assembly approved and sent to Gov. Scott Walker new restrictions on voting branded as “racist, hypocritical and fraudulent” by One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross. In response One Wisconsin Institute is circulating an online petition, already signed by several thousand citizens, urging Gov. Walker to veto the bill and has delivered a letter to Gov. Walker urging the same.

[One Wisconsin Now, 03/21/2014]

 The State Assembly has once again attacked the right to vote in Wisconsin as Republicans today rammed through controversial legislation to impose new restrictions on early voting. The Senate approved the bill earlier in the week and it now makes its way to Gov. Walker for his signature or veto.

[One Wisconsin Now, 03/20/2014]

 An analysis of early voting patterns in Wisconsin in 2012 shows that longer waits for voters would have resulted had state Republican’s efforts to restrict the hours of early voting been in place. One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross noted that urban areas like Milwaukee would have been particularly hard hit compared to the rest of the state.

[One Wisconsin Now, 03/19/2014]

 A June 2012 news report in the Wall Street Journal featured a look at the efforts of Gov. Walker and other right wing groups to target Republicans to vote early in the 2012 recall elections, and speculated it could serve as a model for other states. One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross noted that Republicans have added a heaping dose of hypocrisy to their updated voter turnout plan by seeking to suppress the votes of seniors, minorities and working families with new restrictions on early, in-person voting.

[One Wisconsin Now, 03/17/2014]

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is in a close race with his Democratic challenger Mary Burke. Yet his primary concern seems to be on voter ID requirements in the state. One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross joins the Melissa Harris-Perry panel to discuss why. [MSNBC, 03/15/2014]

Republican lawmakers in Wisconsin passed a bill Wednesday to scrap weekend voting—and the rationale they used to support the move may set a new standard for cynicism. A day earlier, Republican Gov. Scott Walker vowed to go to the mat for the state’s controversial voter ID law...As Senate Leader Scott Fitzgerald, a Republican, put it in comments to reporters Wednesday just after the bill had passed: It’s difficult for people to turn on Channel 6 in Milwaukee … and there’s a shot of someone voting during a time when it’s not available to people in rural areas. In other words: Rural counties don’t need weekend voting. But their residents might feel left out if they see others voting at a time when they can’t. So no one should vote on weekends. Unmentioned in this, of course, is that voters in heavily populated urban counties are disproportionately minorities and Democrats.

[MSNBC, 03/13/2014]

Gov. Scott Walker is putting the entire weight of the governorship behind Voter ID. Scot Ross, executive director of One Wisconsin Now, a liberal group that has been ferociously attacking Republicans on Voter ID for years, says that the opinion dynamics on the issue have changed dramatically in Wisconsin in recent years. “Now there’s unanimity against it (among Democrats),” he says. “People have finally recognized what efforts to pass Voter ID really are about. It’s about a political party using its majority to gain a partisan advantage.

[Capital Times, 03/12/2014]

Scot Ross, executive director of One Wisconsin Now, joins The Reid Report to discuss efforts in Wisconsin by Republicans to put a stop to early voting. [MSNBC, 03/11/2014]

 A breaking media report indicates that Gov. Walker is mulling a special session of the legislature in the event his voter ID law — estimated to disenfranchise 300,000 legal voters, overwhelmingly the elderly and minorities — is found unconstitutional.

[One Wisconsin Now, 03/11/2014]

 Legislation before the state Senate today to severely restrict early in-person voting and ban weekend voting in Wisconsin could create more hurdles for minorities, seniors and persons with disabilities who want to exercise their state constitutional right to vote. State election regulators and non-partisan watchdogs have reported serious issues with the accessibility of physical locations used for voting on Election Day and serious delays to vote in many polling places in urban areas.

[One Wisconsin Now, 03/11/2014]

Scot Ross from One Wisconsin Now joins the MHP panel to discuss Governor Scott Walker and his potential 2016 plans. [MSNBC, 11/24/2013]

 The latest attempt by legislative Republicans to resuscitate a voter ID law that would potentially disenfranchise an estimated 300,000 legal Wisconsin voters was considered by the Assembly Committee on Campaigns and Elections today. The previous voter ID law enacted by Gov. Walker and the GOP is currently enjoined from enforcement by a state court and is the subject of ongoing federal and state litigation.

[One Wisconsin Now, 11/06/2013]

There’s fraud in Wisconsin elections — but the impropriety isn’t happening in polling places on Election Day. It’s being perpetrated in our state Capitol where Gov. Walker and his lapdog Republican Legislature continue to manipulate the rules on voting to gain a partisan political advantage.

[Capital Times, 11/04/2013]

 Could a state grant slipped into the budget by the former Assembly Majority Leader, signed into law by Gov. Walker and rushed through the approval process by the Walker administration be used to help support partisan political activity? A loophole inserted into the budget provision authorizing the grant and the track record of the group in line to reap $500,000 in taxpayer dollars over the next two years certainly raises the possibility, according to One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross.

[One Wisconsin Now, 09/04/2013]

 Despite mounting questions and growing evidence that top Republican leaders went to great lengths to ensure a taxpayer funded grant went to a politically connected special interest group, the grant was approved on Thursday. One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross lambasted the approval of the grant in light of the burgeoning scandal surrounding the provision creating the program in the 2013 state budget.

[One Wisconsin Now, 08/29/2013]

Scot Ross, Ohio State Sen. Nina Turner, and Judith Browne Dianis join Melissa Harris-Perry to discuss the continued need for the fight for voting rights, especially after seeing legislation pass. [MSNBC, 08/25/2013]

 In announcing Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker would travel to Alabama as he continues his “stealth campaign” for the Republican nomination for the presidency in 2016, that state's Republican party touted his “Alabama values.” One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross wondered if Walker will also share tips from Wisconsin on his efforts to manipulate the rules on voting to benefit himself politically.

[One Wisconsin Now, 08/22/2013]

 Determined not to be outdone by recent anti-voter legislation in North Carolina, Wisconsin State Senator Mary Lazich has fired back, re-introducing a package of bills to make it easier to toss out the legally cast ballots of legal voters for minor clerical errors and injecting more partisanship into election administration. One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross termed the depth and breadth of Lazich’s contempt for the most fundamental of democratic rights, the franchise, “disgusting and depraved.”

[One Wisconsin Now, 08/13/2013]

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is reporting that Governor Scott Walker has fired Steve Krieser, Deputy Assistant Secretary at the state Department of Transportation (DOT), for a stunningly racist Facebook rant in which he said of undocumented people in the US, “You may see Jesus when you look at them, I see Satan.” However, the Walker aide was not fired or disciplined after issuing a directive in 2011 that would have made it more difficult for legal, low-income Wisconsin voters to cast a ballot in elections under a GOP passed voter ID law.

[One Wisconsin Now, 08/08/2013]

In his twenty years in office, Scott Walker has amassed a truly astounding record of failure. To commemorate the looming anniversary of his first election to office, One Wisconsin Now is highlighting a different and depressing failure of Gov. Walker every day, for twenty days. Today, we look at the right-wing machine behind the man, the Milwaukee-based Bradley Foundation, headed by Gov. Walker's campaign co-chair, Michael Grebe.

[One Wisconsin Now, 06/12/2013]

In his twenty years in office, Scott Walker has amassed a truly astounding record of failure. To commemorate the looming anniversary of his first election to office, One Wisconsin Now is highlighting a different and depressing failure of Gov. Walker every day, for twenty days. In today's installment, Gov. Walker's anti-voter record is “highlighted”.

[One Wisconsin Now, 06/09/2013]

An omnibus bill from Rep. Jeff Stone (R-Greendale) on the legislative fast-track would make a host of anti-voter changes to state election law according to voter rights advocates. Members of the Protect Wisconsin Elections Coalition, State Representative JoCastsa Zamarippa and a constituent of bill author Rep. Stone all blasted the proposed bill for making it harder for Wisconsinites to vote and undermining their confidence that their votes will be counted and elections will be free and fair.

[One Wisconsin Institute, 05/30/2013]

Roger Ailes, Fox News Chair and CEO, is in line for a big payday courtesy of Wisconsin's “Money Badger” Michael Grebe, head of the Milwaukee-based Bradley Foundation and co-chair of Gov. Scott Walker's campaign. According to news reports, Ailes will receive a $250,000 no strings attached “Bradley Award” in a ceremony next month.

[One Wisconsin Now, 05/13/2013]

Voting is not only our right; it is our duty. It is how we have a say in the direction of our community, our state and our country. Voting is the one time everyone is equal. Young or old, rich or poor, on Election Day everyone gets the same say.

[One Wisconsin Institute, 05/12/2013]

The group, One Wisconsin Now harbors a different perspective to Walker’s tenure. Executive Director Scot Ross issued a release citing, what he calls, some of the governor’s low lights: “Looting the public treasury to dole out favors to big business. Slashing investments in education and health care to pay for tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations. Thrusting the state into chaos and turmoil as he stripped workers of their rights. Undermining free and fair elections by rigging legislative districts and signing shameful voter suppression legislation. Flooding the state with previously unseen campaign cash from out-of-state millionaires and billionaires,” Ross said.

[Milwaukee Public Radio, 01/02/2013]

Signed a bill that allows election observers to be as close as three feet to voters and poll workers when they are registering to vote or giving their name and address when checking in at the polling place. The bill passed both houses and was approved by the Governor on April 2, 2014.

[2013 AB 202, Senate Vote, 01/01/2013]

Signed a bill which reduced the number of locations to which clerks are required to send special voting deputies to allow individuals to cast absentee ballots. The bill was passed by both houses and approved by the Governor on March 27, 2014.

[2013 AB 396, Senate Vote, 01/01/2013]

Signed a bill that requires that whenever two or more poll workers are required to perform a function at polling place and both parties have submitted nominees, then the chief inspector must assign an equal number of poll workers from the nominees of each party. Prior law did not require that political party be considered when assigning poll workers.

[2013 SB 265, Senate Vote, 01/01/2013]

Signed bill that limited clerk’s office hours and days available for early voting, eliminating weekend voting and severely restricting voting hours available outside the normal work day. The Assembly version of the bill (2013 AB 54) failed to pass, but a substantially similar bill (SB 324) was adopted. The Governor exercised a partial veto, striking language limiting voting hours to 45 hours per week but leaving intact restrictions on hours of day (8 a.m. to 7 p.m.) and elimination of weekend hours.

[2013 SB 324, Senate Vote, 01/01/2013]

One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross called on state and federal authorities to immediately open an investigation into the circumstances surrounding Capital Midwest being granted management of $1 million of taxpayer funds through the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority (WHEDA). Capital Midwest is run by Stephen Einhorn who, along with his wife Nancy, donated $25,000 to Gov. Walker's campaign a mere month before being awarded management rights over the public funds by the WHEDA board, a majority of whose members are appointed by Walker.

[One Wisconsin Now, 12/09/2012]

Wisconsin's 'Money Badger', Michael Grebe, appears to have his paws in the attack on worker rights in Michigan according to One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross. Grebe, who runs the Milwaukee-based Bradley Foundation, has doled out nearly $2 million to three organizations taking leading roles in promoting the attack on worker rights launched by Michigan Republicans in a lame duck session of their state legislature.

[One Wisconsin Now, 12/06/2012]

Recent media reports on prospective 2016 Republican presidential candidates' money chase included Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker on a list of suitors seeking an audience with GOP mega-donor and Las Vegas casino magnate Sheldon Adelson. But according to One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross, Walker may already have found his Super-PAC sugar daddy, the Wisconsin 'Money Badger', Michael Grebe of the Bradley Foundation.

[One Wisconsin Now, 12/05/2012]

Joining Milwaukee community organizations, elected officials and election administrators at an event opposing the efforts of Gov. Scott Walker and top legislative Republicans to roll back the state’s nearly 40-year old same day voter registration law, One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross denounced the GOP’s latest voting law shenanigans as “the real electoral fraud in Wisconsin today”.

[One Wisconsin Now, 12/04/2012]

The liberal group One Wisconsin Now, worried about possible confusion over who can sign petitions to recall Gov. Scott Walker, issued a “recall petitioners’ rights” memo in late November 2011. We can’t predict whether all multiple signers will be found, but state law makes clear that one — and only one — signature is to be counted. And it’s perfectly legal to sign more than once. That was the focus of the statement from One Wisconsin Now. We rate it True.

[Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 12/01/2012]

Gov. Scott Walker hinted a few weeks ago, that he favors doing away with same day voter registration. Now a liberal political advocacy group is launching a preemptive strike against any attempt to change the 36-year tradition. Scott Ross is Executive Director of the group One Wisconsin Now. It helped gather 15,000 signatures on petitions supporting Election Day Registration and delivered them to the Capitol on Thursday. According to the Government Accountability Board, if Wisconsin eliminates Election Day Registration, it stands to lose federal incentives. The board is preparing a report on possible ramifications, for release on December 18.

[WUWM, 11/29/2012]

Governor Scott Walker and GOP lawmakers have expressed support for ending the practice of allowing voters to register at the polls on Election Day. One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross says the option needs to remain though, since it provides a valuable service. Supporters of ending same day registration say the move would help lessen the burden on local clerks and prevent voter fraud. Ross says there’s no evidence to show the system slows down the voting process or that it’s being abused. He says the “only fraud is partisans manipulating the process to achieve political goals. Ross says ending the practice is just an attempt by Republicans to prevent certain people from casting a ballot and it would only disenfranchise voters. The liberal advocacy group has been highly critical of Republicans in recent weeks who have claimed voter fraud is rampant in the state, arguing that those lawmakers have been unable to produce any evidence to back up their claims.

[WTAQ, 11/29/2012]

Governor Scott Walker and GOP lawmakers have expressed support for ending the practice of allowing voters to register at the polls on Election Day. One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross says the option needs to remain though, since it provides a valuable service. Ross notes that over two million people took advantage of the option in the 2004 and 2008 presidential elections.

[Wisconsin Radio Network, 11/29/2012]

A coalition of advocacy groups, including the progressive One Wisconsin Now and United Wisconsin, delivered nearly 15,000 petition signatures to the governor’s office on Thursday from Wisconsinites who oppose changing same-day registration rules. [Huffington Post, 11/29/2012]

Three Wisconsin advocacy groups collected almost 15,000 signatures in objection to Governor Scott Walker’s comments about ending same-day voter registration. Walker recently made a one-hour speech in California outlining his achievements and policy proposals for next year. During the speech, he said he supports ending same-day voter registration, leading to the responses Thursday from We Are Wisconsin, One Wisconsin Now and United Wisconsin. The Wisconsin Municipal Clerks Association has pushed back against Walker’s comments. Diane Hermann-Brown, the Sun Prairie city clerk, said taking same-day voting away would be “fixing something that’s not broken. Hermann-Brown said it would cost more to have voters register in her office rather than doing it at the polls, as her office staff is paid more than the poll workers.

[Badger Herald, 11/28/2012]

A coalition of advocacy groups said Thursday that it was delivering nearly 15,000 signatures on a petition aimed at saving same day voter registration to the office of Gov. Scott Walker. The coalition included the liberal group One Wisconsin Now, We Are Wisconsin and United Wisconsin. Scot Ross, the executive director of OWN, accused Walker and Republican lawmakers of trying to disenfranchise voters, including students and voters in Milwaukee. Walker spokesman Cullen Werwie denied that the governor was trying to disenfranchise voters. He said Walker would sign a bill ending same day voter registration, but added that it was not a priority for him.

[Wisconsin State Journal, 11/28/2012]

A coalition of advocacy groups delivered nearly 15,000 signatures on a petition to save same day voter registration to the office of Gov. Scott Walker today, rallying to save a state law that has helped over one million eligible voters cast a ballot in November general elections in 2006, 2008 and 2010 in Wisconsin. In a recent speech in California, Gov. Walker advocated repealing same day voter registration and, in the 2011 legislative session, the first bill announced by was a repeal of same day voter registration, authored by the husband of Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch.

[One Wisconsin Now, 11/28/2012]

Three liberal advocacy groups, One Wisconsin Now, We Are Wisconsin and United Wisconsin, at 10 a.m. today in Madison will discuss implications of elimination of same-day voter registration. They also will deliver petitions signed by 15,000 people to Gov. Scott Walker to express their [support for] same-day voter registration. [Green Bay Press-Gazette, 11/28/2012]

Wisconsin is one of only eight states where people can register to vote on Election Day, and it will be 10 after new laws take effect in California and Connecticut. But if the Badger State trashes it – as Governor Scott Walker is talking about – the state must adopt a “motor voter” registration system, in which people can register at the same place they apply for driver’s licenses or apply for public benefits. But Scot Ross of the liberal group One Wisconsin Now says there’s no truth to the widespread voter fraud that Republicans claim.

[WHBL, 11/19/2012]

One Wisconsin Institute is today filing an amicus brief in support of the NAACP-Voces de la Frontera lawsuit against the state's voter identification law, citing the lack of provable voter impropriety and limited access to Department of Motor Vehicles offices. One Wisconsin Institute is the education and research arm of statewide progressive advocacy group One Wisconsin Now.

[One Wisconsin Institute, 11/18/2012]

Gov. Scott Walker has joined one of the Legislature’s most powerful Republicans in saying he’s considering ending the state’s same-day voter registration law, drawing quick criticism from leading Democrats, including Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett. Wisconsin is one of nine states that allow voters to register at their polling place on the day of the election, and that’s often credited with helping make Wisconsin’s voting rate one of the highest in the country. Since the Nov. 6 election, both Walker and incoming Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) have said they’re considering ending the practice, which goes back to 1976 in the state. Scot Ross, head of the liberal group One Wisconsin Now, said there’s no truth to claims of widespread fraud in which one voter impersonates another. “To date, no Republican has been able to show that there is any impersonation voter fraud and every study shows that there is no rampant voter impropriety in the state of Wisconsin or around the country,” Ross said.

[Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 11/18/2012]

The day after statewide success for progressives in Wisconsin, One Wisconsin Now Executive Director noted the untold story is the failure of Wisconsin's 'Money Badger,' Bradley Foundation CEO Michael Grebe, and his proteges Governor Scott Walker, Republican National Committee Chair Reince Priebus and U.S. Representative and failed Vice-Presidential candidate Paul Ryan to deliver the state for Republicans.

[One Wisconsin Now, 11/06/2012]

Thanks to reporting done by The Grio's Joy Reid and the advocacy organization One Wisconsin Now, Melissa Harris-Perry is able to name names for 'This Week In Voter Suppression” in exposing the foundation behind billboards that splashed false information on voter fraud. [MSNBC, 11/03/2012]

With the election less than a week away, Black Americans are being hit with near daily attempts to scare, intimidate or simply prevent us from voting. The latest assault was delivered by the Einhorn Family Foundation, the previously anonymous funders who erected more than 100 fear-mongering billboards in low-income, Black and Latino neighborhoods in Cleveland, Cincinnati and Milwaukee. Through investigative work by The Grio, a Black news organization owned by NBC Universal, and One Wisconsin Now, a political organizing nonprofit, it was discovered that the Einhorn Family Foundation – headed by an investment banker that has donated nearly $50,000 to support Wisconsin’s ultra-conservative governor, Scott Walker – was behind the ads. [BET, 10/31/2012]

The Romney for President campaign has touted the endorsement of Michael Grebe, saying in a press release that the head of the Milwaukee based Bradley Foundation, recently revealed as a funder of voter suppression billboards, is a “great supporter of conservative causes”.

[One Wisconsin Now, 10/31/2012]

The liberal organization One Wisconsin Now was the first to disclose the role the Einhorn foundation had in footing the bill for the billboards. Scot Ross, head of the Madison-based group, called it “reprehensible” that private foundation money was spent on billboards that Ross said were intended to suppress the vote during the 2010 election in which Scott Walker was elected governor. Grebe is the campaign chairman of Walker’s campaign. “It raises serious questions about how the Bradley Foundation spends its money,” Ross said.

[Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 10/30/2012]

TheGrio and One Wisconsin Now first reported Monday that the billboards were funded by the Einhorn Family Foundation. In a statement, the Einhorns confirmed that they were behind the ads. [Washington Post, 10/30/2012]

Billboards warning communities of color in Ohio and Wisconsin that voter fraud can lead to jail time were put up by a group led by a Milwaukee-based venture capitalist and donor to Mitt Romney and the Tea Party movement, an investigation by NBC’s theGrio has found. The billboards—which carried the unnecessary (and some might say, intimidating) warning that “VOTER FRAUD IS A FELONY!”—have been removed by the company that erected them in the first place, Clear Channel...the company gave the client a choice: either reveal yourself, or the ads need to come down. The client chose to have the ads come down, and to remain anonymous. But that anonymity lasted about a week. A joint investigation by our colleagues at theGrio and the issue-advocacy group One Wisconsin Now pulled back the curtain a bit: One Wisconsin Now and theGrio discovered that a little-known non-profit, the Einhorn Family Foundation, based in Milwaukee, was behind the 2010 and 2012 Milwaukee area billboard campaigns. The Einhorn Foundation, led by the family patriarch, Steven Einhorn, is just one of a constellation of conservative organizations that go beyond Charles and David Koch, the billionaire brothers behind much of the tea party funding, who have become familiar to those watching the rise of “dark money” in American elections since the Citizens United decision in the U.S. Supreme Court.

[MSNBC, 10/30/2012]

One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross released the following statements regarding news late Monday that the Einhorn Family Foundation confirmed the results of a joint investigation by theGrio news service and One Wisconsin Now and admitted it was the previously-anonymous funder of voter suppression billboards purchased in 2010 and 2012 targeting communities of color.

[One Wisconsin Now, 10/29/2012]

Stephen Einhorn - a Wisconsin venture capital fund manager and major GOP donor - acknowledged Monday that he and his wife Nancy paid for dozens of anonymous billboards in and around Milwaukee and two Ohio cities warning residents of the penalties for committing voter fraud. Democrats and civil rights groups complained that the signs - which were taken down last week - were concentrated in minority neighborhoods and intended to suppress the election turnout, though some were posted as far out as Waukesha and Washington counties...The Einhorns have made campaign donations to many Republican politicians, including Gov. Scott Walker, to whom they have given $49,750 since 2005, according to the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign.

[Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 10/29/2012]

When Scot Ross heard about more than a dozen billboards going up in largely minority neighborhoods around Cleveland, Ohio, bearing ominous images of a judge’s gavel and copy warning of the legal penalties (fines and jail time) for voter fraud, the story had a familiar ring. [theGrio, 10/28/2012]

A joint investigation by theGrio news service and One Wisconsin Now has uncovered that Milwaukee's Einhorn Family Foundation is the “private family foundation” that anonymously funded voter suppression billboards in Wisconsin in September 2010 and again this year. A review of IRS documents also showed Milwaukee's Bradley Foundation, headed by Scott Walker's campaign co-chair Michael Grebe, and one of the largest sources for right wing funding in America, gave the Einhorn Family Foundation a $10,000 grant, at the time the 2010 suppression billboards appeared, “to support a public education project.”

[One Wisconsin Now, 10/28/2012]

Scot Ross of "One Wisconsin Now" joins Melissa Harris-Perry and her guests to dig into the details on the Bradley Foundation, what is called the "big granddaddy of political money that no one knows about." [MSNBC, 10/27/2012]

One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross released the following statements regarding Judge David Flanagan’s permanent injunction against Wisconsin’s noxious voter identification law.

[One Wisconsin Now, 07/17/2012]

After the smoke cleared, Wisconsin’s historic venture to the recall polls in June ended as it had in November 2010: Gov. Scott Walker defeats Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, this time by six points. About 2.5 million voters wanted to get in on the fight, almost a half million more than the first bout in 2010.  Still, 43 percent stayed home. But the recall election in Wisconsin remained a classic display of special interests getting back in the ring for a preliminary bout before the November elections. And it was a joy to watch from the couch.

[Baltimore Post Examiner, 06/05/2012]

One Wisconsin Now Deputy Director Mike Browne made the following statement regarding Dane County Circuit Court Judge Flanagan issuing an injunction against the voter suppression law:

[One Wisconsin Now, 03/05/2012]

Gov. Scott Walker’s campaign raised over $8 million from a cross-country cash grab, over 60% of it from out-of-state donors and much of it from mega-contributors giving up to $250,000 at a time. But his campaign is asking that, instead of offering their own challenges, allegations of improper signatures on recall petitions from an alliance of Texas and Wisconsin fringe political groups accused of voter suppression activities be considered by the Government Accountability Board (GAB).

[One Wisconsin Now, 02/27/2012]

Dane County Judge dismissed motions today that would have stopped the lawsuit against Gov. Scott Walker’s voter identification bill, that experts say is both not needed and could lead to legal voters being disenfranchised or subject to a de facto poll tax.“Gov. Scott Walker’s effort to keep legal voters from exercising their right to hold him accountable must be stopped,” said Scot Ross, One Wisconsin Now Executive Director.

[Milwaukee Community Journal, 01/25/2012]

A Dane County Judge allowed to continue a lawsuit against Gov. Scott Walker’s voter identification bill, that experts say is both not needed and could lead to legal voters being disenfranchised or subject to a de facto poll tax.

[One Wisconsin Now, 01/18/2012]

Wisconsin will soon witness major election and legal battles to combat Walker-supported laws limiting the rights of public workers and restricting voting booth access. Laws passed in 2011 virtually eliminate public-employee bargaining rights and restrict voting to those with approved IDs, which could potentially disenfranchise tens of thousands of state residents. “First you take away workers’ rights, then you change the laws so that it’s hard for them to vote you out of office,” said Scot Ross, director of One Wisconsin Now, a progressive media-focused group. [In These Times, 01/17/2012]

“In just one year, Gov. Scott Walker has failed the people of Wisconsin as no other elected official in our state has. Continuing job loss, while nationally the rest of the country gains jobs. The largest cuts to public education of our students in our state’s history. More than 65,000 people including 29,000 children about to lose their health care. Radical attacks on the rights of Wisconsin workers and voters. And to top it off, an unconscionable $70 million hike on taxes for seniors and the working poor, while Walker signed $2.3 billion in new tax breaks for corporations and the rich.” [ [Milwaukee Small Business Times, 01/16/2012]

In a scathing ruling, a three-judge panel decided for the third time Tuesday that a Democratic group has a right to an array of information on how Republican lawmakers drew new legislative districts. Saying that GOP lawmakers and their attorneys have filed "frivolous" motions trying to keep their information private, the panel also required the attorneys for the Republican defendants to pay the attorneys' fees for the plaintiffs for the motion.

[Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 01/03/2012]

An aide to a top lawmaker gave sworn testimony last week that new legislative maps approved this year were not meant to increase the Republican majority in the Legislature but were nonetheless provided to the Republican National Committee in advance. The seemingly inconsistent testimony came in a deposition from Adam Foltz, an aide to Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald (R-Horicon) charged with drawing the new maps for lawmakers. A copy of the deposition was filed with a federal three-judge panel late Tuesday.

[Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 12/28/2011]

The announcement the notorious anti-voting rights, right wing group GrandSons of Liberty will be leading the Republican effort to disqualify signatures in the recall of Gov. Scott Walker raises serious questions, given the group’s central role in a thwarted 2010 voter caging scheme involving them, the Republican Party of Wisconsin and the American for Prosperity that was uncovered by One Wisconsin Now.

[One Wisconsin Now, 12/08/2011]

Today's exposure that voter impropriety allegations made by a rightwing corporate front group are 100 percent false underscores the decade-long disinformation campaign by Republican officials and their allies in order to justify passage of legislation that could likely suppress the right to vote for tens of thousands of eligible Wisconsin voters.

[One Wisconsin Now, 12/04/2011]

Herman Cain’s smoking campaign manager, Mark Block, was the Koch brothers’ man in Wisconsin until two days before Gov. Scott Walker’s inauguration. That’s when he switched from controversy-plagued campaigning at the state level to controversy-plagued campaigning at the national level. The group One Wisconsin Now described the plan as “a coordinated plot by the Republican Party of Wisconsin, Americans for Prosperity-Wisconsin and organizations in the so-called tea party movement targeting minority voters and college students in a possibly illegal ‘voter caging’ effort for voter suppression.”

[Capital Times, 11/08/2011]

One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross released the following statements regarding Sen. Mary Lazich’s (R-New Berlin) latest attempt to thwart the recall of Gov. Scott Walker — a never-before considered requirement for officially notarized recall signatures.

[One Wisconsin Now, 10/26/2011]

One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross released the following statements regarding the Republican-controlled state legislature’s latest election-rigging schemes planned for a Senate hearing today.

[One Wisconsin Now, 10/25/2011]

The liberal group One Wisconsin Now accused Republicans of trying to hijack presidential elections, despite the lack of support from GOP legislative leaders. The group’s executive director, Scot Ross, said the proposal would put an “essential end” to the Electoral College system of voting in presidential elections. “The depths to which Republicans in Wisconsin will sink to rig elections appear to be bottomless,” Ross said. “It is not enough they passed a voter suppression scheme that threatens the voting rights of hundreds of thousands of legal Wisconsin voters, or that they paid $500,000 to rig legislative maps, or that they strong-armed an independent agency to try and stave off Gov. Scott Walker’s inevitable recall.” All that, he said, and the GOP was now attacking the foundation of how Wisconsin participates in electing the President of the United States.”Memo to the Republicans: If you would stop doling out corporate tax breaks to your contributors and focus instead on creating jobs, you might not have to rig the ballot box in order to win elections,” Ross said. [Lakeland Times, 10/17/2011]

One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross released the following statements regarding the Republican-controlled state legislature’s attacks on student voting rights and the right to hold elected officials accountable through the recall process.

[One Wisconsin Now, 10/05/2011]

Wisconsin’s legislative right wing seems to have a serious problem with the rights of people in Wisconsin. With all the Gov. Scott Walker power grabs, Republican incumbent protection measures and anti-democratic voter disenfranchisement acts being rammed through the Capitol these days, it’s not surprising that a powerful state Senate Republican has hatched yet another unnecessary, non-job creating proposal that serves the interests of his GOP colleagues’ elections and the corporate special interests that underwrite them.

[Wisconsin State Journal, 09/30/2011]

Meanwhile, the progressive advocacy group One Wisconsin Now filed an open records request with the DOT asking for documents related to the memo, which a Wednesday press release calls a “smoking gun.” Says executive Scot Ross in an interview: “This is proof that they are actively trying to prevent people from knowing that those free IDs are available. They are denying legal voters the right to vote because Governor Walker wants as few people to turn out as possible.”

[Wisconsin State Journal, 09/07/2011]

One Wisconsin Now has filed an open records request with the Wisconsin Department of Transportation to obtain all communications and emails related to the issuance of state identification cards for the purposes of voting under the state’s voter identification bill.

[One Wisconsin Now, 09/06/2011]

The Capitol battles over union bargaining and political redistricting proposals have paid off for one group: politically connected GOP lawyers. So far this year, two firms with strong Republican connections have racked up more than $700,000 in invoices and payments authorized by Gov. Scott Walker and GOP lawmakers to help represent the state in cases such as legal challenges over Walker's legislation ending most collective bargaining for public employees. More payments on the ongoing cases and another likely case are still to come, as Walker considers a request by the Department of Justice to appoint one of the firms to represent the state in a federal lawsuit over redistricting legislation.

[Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 08/20/2011]

As elections took place Tuesday in six state Senate districts, Gov. Scott Walker privately signed legislation to redraw their boundaries along with the remaining legislative districts. Walker waited until nearly the last possible moment to announce he had signed the legislation, which will give Republicans an advantage in the upcoming 2012 elections for both the Legislature and Congress. "The maps passed by the Legislature meet the objective criteria laid out by the courts, including communities of interest, fair minority representation and compact, contiguous districts," Walker spokesman Cullen Werwie said in a brief statement announcing the bill signings.

[Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 08/09/2011]

One Wisconsin Now, a non-profit statewide progressive communications network, says the ad buy appears to be an effort to help the six Republican state Senators who were challenged by recall elections after supporting Governor Scott Walker’s anti-collective bargaining legislation in early 2011.

[Huffington Post, 08/02/2011]

And if so, Jorgensen is right. Voter fraud is virtually nonexistent in Wisconsin. As One Wisconsin Now reported, there were more UFO sightings (40) in Wisconsin in 2008 than reports of improper voting (14) out of the 3 million votes cast in the 2008 election.

[AFL-CIO, 07/25/2011]

“Election officials across Wisconsin are bracing for a difficult transition as the state rushes into place new rules for voting signed into law by Gov. Scott Walker Wednesday — including a controversial measure requiring voters to use photo IDs...Walker signed the bill before a packed room Wednesday, reminding the crowd that he had authored a similar bill 10 years earlier, when he was a state representative. “So contrary to what some have said, this has not been rushed,” he said. “Some bills take longer than others.” Walker said the bill “protects the integrity of every single vote.”

[Wisconsin State Journal, 05/26/2011]

Election officials across Wisconsin are bracing for a difficult transition as the state rushes into place new rules for voting signed into law by Gov. Scott Walker Wednesday — including a controversial measure requiring voters to use photo IDs. Passage of the controversial law, which has been discussed by Republicans for more than a decade, means those charged with enforcing it have just under two months to develop and implement the training needed to handle polls in the coming recall elections...Opponents say it is a solution without a problem. They fear it discourages people from voting, especially college students, seniors, minorities and people with disabilities.

[Wisconsin State Journal, 05/26/2011]

The new law would spend $7 million – most of which would make free ID’s for those who want them. But “One Wisconsin Now” director Scot Ross says people could only get them during business hours on weekdays – and many must travel long distances to get them at motor vehicle offices. [WTAQ, 05/25/2011]

Walker signed into law Assembly Bill 7, requiring photo identification to vote at a polling place or obtain an absentee ballot. On February 12, 2011, the Senate passed an amendment to SB 6 that changes Wisconsin's voting laws and requires each eligible elector who attempts to register or to vote at the polls on election day to present "proof of identification." "Proof of identification" means an identification document that contains the name of the individual to whom the document was issued, which name conforms to the individual's voter registration, if the individual is required to register to vote, and that contains a photograph of the individual. "Identification" means a) one of the following documents issued to the individual that is unexpired or if expired has expired after the date of the most recent general election: an operator's license issued by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (DOT), an identification card issued by DOT, an identification card issued by a U.S. uniformed service, or a U.S. Passport; b) a certificate of U.S. naturalization that was issued not earlier than two years before the date of an election at which it is presented; c) an unexpired driving receipt issued by DOT (see below); d) an unexpired identification card receipt issued by DOT; or e) an identification card issued by a federally recognized Indian tribe in this state. The Senate took up the Assembly bill (AB 7) on May 19, 2011. The Assembly passed this version of the bill several days prior on 5/11/11 by 59-36. (2011 AB 7; Senate Roll Call; Assembly Roll Call) [2011 WI Act 23, 05/25/2011]

One Wisconsin Now Executive Director Scot Ross released the following statements regarding Gov. Scott Walker’s planned signing of the nation’s most restrictive voter identification bill.

[One Wisconsin Now, 05/24/2011]

“We continue to confer with legal counsel about what potential legal challenges can be made against Gov. Walker’s voter suppression bill,” Scot Ross, executive director of the liberal group One Wisconsin Now, said in a statement Wednesday.

[Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 05/24/2011]

“Ultimately, this will cost Wisconsin not only our fair and clean elections, but also millions of additional tax dollars when a court rules against them for damages for denying legal voters the right to vote,” said Scot Ross of One Wisconsin Now.

[Wisconsin State Journal, 05/18/2011]

A formal complaint with the state Government Accountability Board was filed yesterday by the recipient of an absentee ballot application sent by the Washington, DC-based Republican Governors Association. The absentee ballot mailer contained faulty information which could disenfranchise voters.

[One Wisconsin Now, 10/26/2010]

Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker’s hollow criticism of the Talgo bidding process, which was not awarded to the company of his $13,000 donor and 2006 gubernatorial co-chair, is even more hypocritical given that Walker voted to create the no-bid statute in the 1997 state budget, according to One Wisconsin Now.

[One Wisconsin Now, 03/17/2010]

First 100 Day Agenda:

• Jim Doyle and the Democrats have refused to protect the integrity of the ballot box in Wisconsin’s electoral system. Scott Walker will not allow this to continue.
• Scott will work with the state legislature and pass a law that requires a State of Wisconsin issued Photo ID to vote.
• Scott will work with the state legislature to repeal .same-day. voter registration.
• Return absentee ballots to their original purpose - people who are absent on Election Day.
• Require that those who register voters be trained by local clerks or elections officials.”

[Scott Walker, 06/05/2006]

“This is the third time that Doyle vetoed the voter ID bill and it’s time to get him out of office...Doyle’s lame excuse? It might ‘disenfranchise elderly and poor voters. Apparently, this did not stop him from signing the Meth Bill that requires some cold medicines to be put behind the counter and requires customers to show ID to get it. Apparently, no elderly or poor people get colds...” (Walker Weekly XXVII) [Scott Walker, 08/12/2005]

A state representative has proposed a bill that would require Wisconsin voters to show photo identification before voting, but another lawmaker said the rule would disenfranchise minorities and other voters. State Rep. Scott Walker, R-Wauwatosa, asked an Assembly committee Thursday to recommend passing his bill because he said it could reduce voting irregularities like those that occurred during November's presidential election. It would also maintain the integrity of the ballot, Walker said...State Sen. Gwen Moore, D-Milwaukee, said the bill would threaten the freedoms of disenfranchised voters, such as minorities, women, senior citizens, people with disabilities, college students and the poor...“These are the same sort of onerous obstacles that we saw in Southern states … that were put into place to try to prevent minorities from voting,” Moore said. “It is like a poll tax.”

[Beloit Daily News, 09/14/2001]

"There is no legitimate reason why eligible voters cannot bring a photo ID. Only people interested in perpetuating voter fraud need fear such a requirement.” (See also: 2001 Assembly Bill 259) [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 01/31/2001]