Wisconsin Election Official Confirms Romney Poll Watcher Materials Are Inaccurate

Source: ThinkProgress

On Tuesday, ThinkProgress reported on how the Romney campaign is training poll watchers to mislead voters in Wisconsin. Now, an election official in the Badger State has weighed in to criticize the Romney campaign’s practice of hiding their poll watchers’ affiliations and confirm that the materials they used in trainings are misleading.

Reid Magney, a spokesman for Wisconsin’s Government Accountability Board, spoke with the Washington Post about the story Tuesday and corrected the Romney campaign’s claims:

Pronouncing Election Day observers “the first line of defense” against illegal voting, the primer gives trainees some questionable advice. It says, for example, that convicted felons are ineligible to vote in Wisconsin. Not exactly true, according to Reid Magney, spokesman for the state’s Government Accountability Board, which administers elections. Felons who are out prison and have completed probation can vote, he said.

“Once you have completed the terms of your sentence your voting rights are restored in Wisconsin,” Magney said. The materials cautioned observers not to assist voters, even though the law says voters can ask for help from anyone.

Magney also criticized the Romney campaign for instructing their poll watchers not to disclose any affiliation with the campaign when they sign in at the polls (they were told to list themselves as a “concerned citizen” instead). “We would hope that people would accurately represent who they are with,” he said, though he added that state would not card people as a means of enforcement.

Read more: http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/10/31/1114071/wisconsin-election-officials/

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