Are Lehman’s Friends Advocating Voter Fraud?

Sam Wahlen is a good kid, and has a bright future ahead of him.  This fall he is heading to the University of Marquette, where he wants to major in History and Economics.

That’s why I was surprised to learn he was called-out in a recent mailer for not voting.  The left-wing Greater Wisconsin Committee, which has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars attacking Van Wanggaard, sent a mailer to Sam essentially chastising him and his neighbors for not voting in recent elections.  The mailer correctly points-out that Sam failed to vote in both the 2008 and 2010 elections.

Only one problem:  18-year-old Sam Wahlen was too young in 2008 and 2010 to vote in either election.

The official-looking document is only the latest problematic mailings in a long-line of ugly attacks against Senator Wanggaard.  For example, a Madison-based environmental group has attacked Van on TV to the tune of $50,000 for his vote on a bill to bring thousands of mining jobs to Wisconsin, including many here in southeastern Wisconsin.  (Incidentally, less than two weeks ago, Lehman indicated his opposition to this bill).  Despite these attacks, Van has stood firm in his support for badly-needed mining jobs.

However, to me, this mailer is especially problematic because of how blatantly it misleads the voter.  To begin, instead of a typical campaign-style mailer with flashy color pictures splashed all over it, the basic black-and-white memo format implies that the mailing came from an official source.  At the bottom, it even states “This data comes directly from the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board,” thus implying the document’s authenticity.

However, that doesn’t mean the data may not have serious flaws, or be outdated, or both.  For example, Sam pointed-out that his brother is also listed as a delinquent voter, but he moved away in 2010.  He also failed to recognize several other names on the mailer.  It’s possible they haven’t voted in years.

So what’s the result of this mailer?  A veritable How To guide in voter fraud.  The mailer clearly identifies names and voting addresses of voters in someone’s neighborhood.  What’s to stop a less scrupulous person from using the list to find individuals willing to stand-in for these folks that have missed some recent opportunities to vote?  With the state’s voter ID law held-up by an activist judge in Madison, no photo ID is required for these already registered voters!

Given the high potential for abuse, I urge John Lehman to immediately and publicly denounce this mailer.  While I strongly disagree with Lehman’s stance against voter ID, I hope we can agree that such blatantly advocacy for voter fraud is not a partisan issue.  A strong rebuke from Lehman condemning this underhanded tactic may go a long ways toward discouraging another mailing like this in the future.

With no voter ID requirement in place, the potential for fraud at the polls has never been higher.  We’ve already removed the safeguards; we don’t need to show them how to commit fraud.

Bill Folk is Chairman of the Racine County Republican Party