I believe that the appointment of the next Dane County Clerk will have a significant impact on the future direction of our State, our County, the City of Madison and maybe even the nation. This is why I am supporting Kyle Richmond for the position. If after reading this you agree, please take the time to contact your County Supervisor and the Board as whole and let them know (contact info here). The vote on the appointment will take place at their Thursday April 14 meeting , so time is of the essence.
In normal times, a County Clerk is primarily an administrator. These are not normal times. Our state is in the control of extremists who are implementing a well developed plan to retain that control. Union busting was part of it, but disfranchisement is perhaps even more central (redistricting needs to be at least mentioned also). Senate Bill 6 requiring that voters present a photo ID with their current address at the polls and Assembly Bill 67 ending same day voter registration are designed to disfranchise Democratic voters.
So there’s no longer a question about the motives behind the bill. The sponsors of this throwback to the days of the Southern poll tax can try to spin their motives all they want. It’s all very simple. The GOP wants to make it tougher for college students, in particular, and anyone else who tends to vote for Democrats, to exercise their right to vote.
Even Chris Rickert gets it, writing that “Tighter voting laws are really about depressing turnout among younger, more transient, poorer and darker-skinned Americans, who tend to vote Democratic” (see here and here also).
Many of those people the Republicans want to disfranchise are in Dane County. Recent elections — up to and including the Kloppenburg/Prosser contest — make it clear that a high turnout in Dane County, particularly among those most likely to be disfranchised, can make a difference in the outcome of state-wide elections, including the selection of presidential electors.
Kyle Richmond gets it too. In his “Platform for More Accessible and Transparent Dane County Government” he has included a list of initiatives on voter education and outreach.
Election & Voter Information
1. Initiate vigorous voter outreach project with League of Women Voters, community organizations, colleges, and public libraries and schools
2. Promote disability access rules for all polling places in Dane County
3. Advocate for State’s Special Registration Deputy program; post a list of county SRDs on Clerk’s site
4. Encourage high school poll worker recruitment across Dane County
5. Provide voter materials in Spanish and Hmong
These are necessary and I hope sufficient to overcome the attempted disfranchisement of our neighbors.
They are also things where the record of the Dane County Clerk’s office, the municipal Clerks in the county and the state is less than stellar. Start with the last. After an hour spent searching the websites of the County Clerk, municipal clerks and the Government Accountability Board, I was unable to locate any voter information materials in any language but English. That’s shameful.
If there has been proactive education and outreach in Dane County, it has been minimal. Under current laws that’s barely acceptable; if the Voter ID and registration laws pass it would be tragic. I say barely acceptable, because the disparities in registration and participation in Madison are great. I’ll use three wards from my district — 13 –as an example. Ward 51 is mix of students and middle class, with a 2000 population of 1,405, 1,375 registered voters, 736 of whom voted April 5; Ward 52, mostly middle class home owners, with some rentals. students, a 2000 population 2,401, 2,065 registered voters, 1.309 of whom voted on April 5; Ward 53, lower income, larger minority population, a 2000 population of 1,401, only 725 registered voters and only 312 of those voted on April 5 (data from here and here).
Outreach and education can make a difference; it can change the political landscape locally, statewide and nationally. The standard I use is the work of Cook County Clerk David Orr. When I lived in Chicago, I volunteered as a Deputy Registrar in a program Orr created. We literally took shifts sitting at grocery stores registering voters and giving them information (in multiple languages) about how to vote (procedures not choices). These and other efforts by Orr’s office have reshaped the electorate.
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The Clerk’s vacancy is due to the retirement of Bob Ohlsen. Had he retired prior to December 1, the voters of Dane County would have been able to choose his successor at the April 5 election. Instead he has attempted to anoint Karen Peters, long serving Deputy Clerk and current Acting Clerk as his successor. The case in Peters favor is based on her extensive knowledge in and great competence in the normal doings of the Clerk’s office. These should not be dismissed lightly, but it should also be kept in mind that while complex, the duties of the Clerk are not brain surgery and they have the aid of professional staff — like a Deputy Clerk — to assist them. It is also worth noting that Kyle Richmond served on the staff of the Elections Board, so he has experience directly related to the doings of the office.
Kyle served the Elections Board as a public information officer. His experience there and elsewhere with public communication, combined with his political experience — having run for and won the office of Supervisor five times and working on other campaigns and initiatives — prepare him to be the kind of Clerk we need now, a Clerk dedicated to increasing participation by the residents of Dane County. He recognizes the potential of the office to do more along these lines and understands that in the coming years it is imperative that this potential becomes reality.
If you think business as usual under the Walker regime is fine, then a business is usual Clerk would be fine too. If you want a Clerk who will use every tool of the office to counter the disfranchisement of members of our community, contact your Supervisor and tell them you support Kyle Richmond. This is not the time for business as usual.
