Romney Campaign Training Poll Watchers to Mislead Voters in Wisconsin

Scott Keyes
Think Progress / News Report
Published: Tuesday 30 October 2012
Mitt Romney’s campaign has been training poll watchers with misleading or just false information.
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Mitt Romney’s campaign has been training poll watchers in Wisconsin with highly misleading — and sometimes downright false — information about voters’ rights.

Documents from a recent Romney poll watcher training obtained by ThinkProgress contain several misleading or untrue claims about the rights of Wisconsin voters. A source passed along the following packet of documents, which was distributed to volunteers at a Romney campaign training in Racine on October 25th. In total, six such trainings were held across the state in the past two weeks.

One blatant falsehood occurs on page 5 of the training packet, which informed poll watchers that any “person [who] has been convicted of treason, a felony, or bribery” isn’t eligible to vote. This is not true. Once a Wisconsin voter who has been convicted of a felony completes his or her sentence, that person is once again eligible to vote.

The training also encouraged volunteers to deceive election workers and the public about who they were associated with. On page 3 of the packet, Romney poll workers were instructed to hide their affiliation with the campaign and told to sign in at the polls as a “concerned citizen” instead. As Kristina Sesek, Romney’s legal counsel who just graduated from Marquette Law School last year, explained, “We’re going to have you sign in this election cycle as a ‘concerned citizen.’ We’re just trying to alleviate some of the animosity of being a Republican observer up front.”

This packet could cause major problems if Republican observers across the state try to enforce such wrong and misleading information on Election Day. Even if they simply slow the voting process down, this could discourage voters waiting in line and drive drown turnout.

Here are four misleading or incorrect pieces of information disbursed by the Romney campaign:

CLAIM: Any “person [who] has been convicted of treason, a felony, or bribery” isn’t eligible to vote. (Page 5)

FACT: Once a person who has been convicted of a felony completes his or her sentence, including probation and fines, that person is eligible to vote.

CLAIM: Page 8 lists 10 items as “The ONLY Acceptable Forms of “Proof of Residency”.

FACT: The list used is incomplete. There are many other documents people can use to prove residency that are not included, such as letters from public schools, student loan papers, correspondence with a Native American tribe in Wisconsin, vehicle registration, and food stamp correspondances. In addition, the list fails to mention that homeless voters may use an affidavit from a public or private social service agency as proof of residency.

CLAIM: “If a handicapped voter is unable to come into the polls to vote, an assistant can deliver the ballot to the voter if the CEI verifies the elector’s proof of residency.” (Page 10)

FACT: Under Wisconsin law, the CEI (Chief Election Inspector) does not have to verify proof of residency so long as the voter is registered.

CLAIM: “Election Observers should not assist [voters].” (Page 10)

FACT: A voter can ask for assistance from anyone, including a poll watcher, so long as the voter initiates the request and does not engage in electioneering.

You can find the full documents by clicking here!



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ABOUT Scott Keyes

Scott Keyes is an investigative researcher for ThinkProgress.org at the Center for American Progress Action Fund. Scott went to school at Stanford University where he received his B.A. in Political Science and M.A. in Sociology. He has appeared on MSNBC and TBD Newstalk TV and been a guest on many radio shows. His writing has been published by The Atlantic, Politico, the Christian Science Monitor, and the Chronicle of Higher Education. Scott comes to DC from southwest Ohio, a state very near and dear to his heart.

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3 comments on "Romney Campaign Training Poll Watchers to Mislead Voters in Wisconsin"

cacbeary

November 06, 2012 10:03am

Romney is not trying to steal the election.

I signed up for the Romney campaign to work the polls. I had 2 training classes. One online and one on the phone. You punch in by phone you are in the right district, then as people come in you check off their names from a list to say they voted.

THAT'S IT! That really is cheating isn't it? You are told not to talk politics to ANYONE. You are not to wear a campaign button or anything that says Romney so you will be accused of influencing a vote - it's not for STEALING THE ELECTION.

Why am I not at the polls? I never received my packet with my ID. Now it must be the Obama people, since I'm a registered republican that I didn't get my mail, right?

25 precincts in Philadelphia had the Republican inspectors evicted & one inspector physically attacked. They had to get a judge to order the Dem controlled precincts to allow the ELECTED Republican inspectors in the precinct. Now THAT is cheating.

nilspearson

November 01, 2012 11:52am

I feel very angry that a presidential candidate would use subversive tactics to nullify my vote. How can Mr Romney justify that sort of underhanded conduct. He should be jailed!!!

Nils Pearson

Eric Arthur Blair

October 30, 2012 11:05am

There's another error in the Romney training you didn't catch. In Wisconsin, absentee ballots are not valid at polling sites. Absentee ballots can only be returned by mail or in person at a local election comission office. If a voter brings in an absentee ballot, they must turn it in and receive a fresh ballot to ensure that the voter is not casting a duplicate ballot. Voters are not allowed to use an absentee ballot as if it were a sample ballot. The absentee ballot is then torn in half and placed in a secure envelope with other spoiled ballots.

The instructions contained in the Romney training regarding absentee ballots do not apply at Wisconsin voting wards.