The dispute started when county officials refused to honor the city of Milwaukee's request for a significant increase in the number of ballots available for the upcoming election. Voters in Milwaukee are allowed to register to vote on election day. That, coupled with the high interest in this election, has city officials expecting an enormous turnout. Hence their request for extra ballots.
County officials, led by the Bush campaign's state chairman, refused the city's request. Instead they were offering a much smaller allotment of ballots. Due to public outcry, the county wised up, and agreed to provide the ballots.
This is not one small victory. Wisconsin is a huge state this year, and the Milwaukee turnout could very well decide how the state goes. The Republican's obvious attempt to hold down the turnout in Milwaukee, is part of a pattern across the U.S.
http://www.jsonline.com/news/metro/oct04/267130.asp "Barrett said the large allotment of ballots will help eliminate the need to shuffle ballots between wards to cover shortfalls that could occur because of high turnout and a large number of same-day registrations. That is important because bar-coding on ballots allows them to be counted only in their home ward.
Gov. Jim Doyle on Thursday had called for a state investigation to resolve the ballot dispute and was pleased to hear Friday that the full number of ballots will be printed.
African-American students and elected officials, as well as voter-registration activists, cried foul this week, accusing Walker of trying to suppress the turnout in the central city. Walker, a Republican, is a state co-chairman of the Bush-Cheney campaign, which fared poorly among black voters in Milwaukee in the 2000 election. At a public meeting Thursday on the issue, more than 100 protesters greeted Walker with chants and jeers, demanding that he fill the city's request."
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