This amuses me! How dare they ask landlords to help tenants participate in democracy! The horror!

From Eileen Bruskewitz eileenbz@gmail.com

Alders,

There are three reasons that Madison landlords will not comply with the recently proposed ordinance requiring landlords to provide voter registration applications to their tenants.

First, Ch 12.093 of the Wisconsin statutes states: 3 No person may personally or through an agent, by any act compel, induce, or prevail upon an elector either to vote or refrain from voting at any election for or against a particular candidate or referendum.
Would a tenant getting a registration form from their landlord be an act to induce an elector to vote in violation of the law? The only people or entities that are mandated to give voter registration applications are municipal clerks. It should stay that way.

Second, this ordinance unduly interferes with our business for political purposes. We enter a contract with a tenant for the rental of an apartment. We provide significant numbers of mandated disclosures related to tenancy.
We will not do your job for you. If you want your constituents to vote, you can give them the information they need to vote. Nor will we provide information for absentee ballots when tenants go on vacation.

We are mandated to give more information to a tenant to rent an apartment than is required to purchase real property. That information IS important for living in their apartments. We will not provide a form that has no relevancy to tenancy.

Third, this is a violation of our free speech rights.

In short, this is a bad ordinance. Don’t pass it. We will not comply with it.
Sincerely,
Eileen Bruskewitz, Ron Fedler, Rose LeTourneau, and Art Luetke on behalf of the Madison Landlord Council

Contact Art Luetke luetkerlty@aol.com