Apparently Wisconsin is the most important swing state this election cycle. So, any reasons why people would not vote in Wisconsin? Does Wisconsin do anything to discourage voting or abuse the privacy of voters?
(update) Yikes… looks like the voter reg site for Wisconsin and https://myvote.wi.gov/en-us/ are both Cloudflared, and the voter info site assumes I’m non-human and ejaculates a broken page while the steps for voting page simply drops my packets. Voting in WI is apparently exclusive and privacy deprecating.
What a shit show. That would be a show-stopper for me if I resided in Wisconsin.
(update 2) this page is openly accessible:
The one upside is that you can register as late as the day of voting. That’s more relaxed than I’ve seen anywhere. But that page does not state what they do with your address. Most states seem to publish it. Alaska is at least smart enough to let voters supply a PO Box address for publication. Not sure if Alaska is the only state with that degree of wisdom and privacy respect. In any case, with Wisconsin Cloudflare would be unavoidably in the loop for your residential address.
(update 3) Found an openly accessible voter reg form here:
https://www.manitowoc.org/DocumentCenter/View/12858/EL-131-Voter-Registration-Application?bidId=
The form has a mailing address, which I think is quite standard (e.g. in case you need an absentee ballot sent to a different address). The form makes no mention of which address is published.
Felons serving a sentence are blocked from voting. So funnily enough, if Trump were to try to “move” to Wisconsin to vote for himself, it would be voter fraud because I guess he would likely be serving a probation sentence for his felonies.
Mail-in voting in WI is iffy; in 2022 a judge ruled it was not legal; I don’t know if that was upheld. However, if you want the real deets, read the official election rules and specifically election judge rules; the latter tend to be more condensed as they’re relying on citizens for these roles. Some resources are:
- Possibly the best, a brief PDF outline of responsibilities of WI election officials
- The City of Milwaukee has a great, short, list is Judge training material
- State Judge training materials
Like MN, voters can register at the voting place, on the day of voting. You need only proof of who you are (eg a valid driver’s license) and proof of residence in your precinct (eg, a recent bill for a utility at your address, in your name). Here’s the registration requirements and allowed proofs; for voters, here’s another version. I was unable to determine whether WI had provisions for vouchers.
Mail-in voting in WI is iffy; in 2022 a judge ruled it was not legal;
Would that mean all Wisconsiners living abroad are potentially disenfranchised?
(update) those statutes mention absentee ballots. So apparently people abroad can cast absentee ballots. Not sure how that would differ from mail-in ballots.
I found no mention in those quite brief laws on what info is published and what is not.
But found a gem here:
12.09 Election threats. (1) No person may personally or through an agent make use of or threaten to make use of force, violence, or restraint in order to induce or compel any person to vote or refrain from voting at an election.
Would be cool if a lawyer could argue that use of Cloudflare violates that rule, since CF makes use of force/restraint to compel some demographics of people to refrain from voting.
Voter suppression and intimidation is also in the republican playbook, so I wonder to what extent that law can be used against republicans. E.g. republicans like to rent giant billboards that say something like “voter fraud is a crime and will be punished”, as a tactic to frighten anyone who is uncertain about their voting rights (such as someone who recently moved into the area).
Would that mean all Wisconsiners living abroad are potentially disenfranchised?
I don’t know. I came across all article about a ruling related to absentee voting in 2020, but didn’t dig any further. It looks like it’s a restriction that’s still being appealed.
Would be cool if a lawyer could argue that use of Cloudflare violates that rule, since CF makes use of force/restraint to compel some demographics of people to refrain from voting.
That’s an interesting observation. I’m sure there are privacy advocates in WI; the case would probably have to be brought by the harmed party, which means a resident. Or, maybe not; IANAL.
Please explain yourself.
That’s a bit vague. What exactly do you want to know?
