I have just spent the worst three hours on the Internet in a very long time. Last week I emailed the GAB and asked when Special Voter Registration Deputy training would be offered and where classes would be held. I was notified by Ms. Coakley, Training Coordinator for the GAB that no further classes will be held by the GAB. She stated that each Municipality will be responsible for training their own deputy registrars.
She stated:
The Voter Photo ID law eliminated the Government Accountability Board's authority to appoint statewide Special Registration Deputies (SRDs). It did not affect a municipal clerk's authority to train and appoint SRDs for his or her municipality. If you are interested in becoming a municipal SRD, please contact the municipal clerk for that municipality.
In order to ascertain if anyone at the different municipalities had classes planned, or a training available, I emailed 42 different municipal cities and towns. Except for Milwaukee, all the towns that have responded so far have absolutely no plans to hold classes. Many of them referred me back to the GAB, not aware that the office was no longer open and website was no longer functional. At this time Glendale, Brookfield, and Brown Deer are not planning classes, and will only offer them to residents of THAT CITY. West Allis, Menominee Falls, and Oconomowoc have no classes planned but feel they will by January of 2012. Whitewater and East Troy have no classes scheduled and none planned.
My take on this is that the GAB is definitely behind on telling the cities they are on their own, and that it is peculiar that places that would need a lot of registrars to get out the vote have no plans to train registrars, or are very restrictive with their training. Since the GAB was put in place to ensure fair and equal elections, being unable to register to vote does not create any equality or fairness. In fact, it does the exact opposite.
Update: Two more municipalities have reported in and Cudahy has no classes planned but will notify the writer if plans are made. Glendale will only train voter deputies from Glendale.