Today Sen. Coggs is Holding a Public Hearing on His ANTI-Voter Id Bill!!!

Today Sen. Coggs is holding a public hearing on Senate Bill 179 his anti-voter id bill!!! It is imperative that your own Representative's know your thoughts on this bill

You can also contact the committee members. Call and also submit comments in writing!!! Senate Labor Committee

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Sen. Cogg's Press Release: Dated April 7th:

Sen. Coggs’ Election Day bill makes modern-day “Jim Crow Laws” a crime “Voter deception and intimidation in the guise of so-called ‘ballot security’ is a crime,” Coggs says

MADISON – Sen. Spencer Coggs introduced legislation on April 7, Election Day that would make it a crime in future elections to suppress voter turnout by deceiving or intimidating voters through individual or organized voter suppression strategies seen in recent elections in Wisconsin and the nation.

“These attempts to mislead, intimidate or coerce voters are the modern-day equivalent of the ‘poll tax,’” Sen. Coggs said. “Voter deception and intimidation in the guise of so-called ‘ballot security’ is a crime and should not be tolerated in our democracy.”

Poll taxes requiring a fee to register to vote were created following the Civil War by “Jim Crow” laws in the South aimed at constructing a legal system based on white supremacy. Other “Jim Crow” laws enacted fraudulent literacy tests, elaborate registration schemes, and eventually white-only primaries to exclude black voters.

Sen. Coggs’ legislation prohibits anyone acting in an official or unofficial capacity from intentionally deceiving anyone regarding the date, time, place or manner of conducting an election, or deceiving anyone about the qualifications or restrictions for voting.

“In recent elections there have been pamphlets distributed anonymously in my district and elsewhere in Milwaukee that warned citizens they could not vote, and that all of their family members could not vote if any family member had ever been convicted of a crime – even if they’ve only received a traffic ticket,” Sen. Coggs said.

In the past two general elections, these pamphlets were distributed in the black community of Milwaukee. The effect was to confuse, disrupt and dissuade central city residents from exercising their right to vote.

Under the Coggs bill, a person affected by this activity can obtain a restraining order from a court or file a sworn complaint with the state Government Accountability Board. If the Board finds merit in the complaint, it must promptly investigate and take all measures necessary to provide correct information and refer the matter for prosecution. Depending on the severity of the crime, penalties range from $50,000 to $100,000 and prison sentences of two to three years.

“Another ploy in recent elections involved the distribution in Milwaukee of an anonymous pamphlet advising citizens not to worry about casting a ballot on an Election Day, Tuesday, because voting was also being conducted on Wednesdays,” Sen. Coggs said.

More ominous, said Coggs, are the actions of government officials and political parties that conduct so-called “ballot security” programs such as the Vote Fraud Task Force established in Milwaukee by the Milwaukee Police Department, the Milwaukee County District Attorney and state Attorney General JB Van Hollen.

“For some reason,” Sen. Coggs said, “one of Wisconsin’s 72 counties – Milwaukee County - was singled out. One city - Milwaukee - was singled out. And seemingly one area within Milwaukee was singled out – the minority community – for so-called ‘voter fraud investigation.’”

Van Hollen, a Republican, was state campaign co-chair for Republican presidential candidate John McCain. At the national Republican convention in 2008, Van Hollen all but guaranteed a McCain victory in Wisconsin and only days later filed a lawsuit that could have disenfranchised hundreds of thousands of Wisconsin voters. The lawsuit was later found to be without merit.

In addition, the so-called Milwaukee “anti-fraud effort” was aided by the publication of a spurious investigation of the 2004 General Election authored by the Milwaukee Police Department. The report was not endorsed by members of the task force and was later found to be biased and partisan.

Other instances of official voter suppression included a nationwide strategy coordinated by the former Bush White House to have US Attorneys aggressively and vindictively pursue purported voter fraud. That strategy resulted in the controversial firing of eight US Attorneys by the Bush administration.

As part of the nationwide strategy, according to reports by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the Republican Party of Wisconsin wrote a 30-page report that was provided to the White House alleging widespread abuses in Wisconsin. The report surfaced in the congressional investigation of the firing of the U.S. Attorneys.

In late 2005, Steve Biskupic, the former US Attorney for Wisconsin, a Bush appointee, announced that his probe found no evidence of a voter fraud conspiracy in Wisconsin.

“These activities should be described for what they are: government-sponsored voter intimidation, deception and suppression,” Sen. Coggs said. “We need the tools to allow everyday citizens to fight back against these modern-day ‘Jim Crow’ laws, and these tools are provided by my legislation.”