Wisconsin "Militia" Promises Armed Intimidation of Recall Signers at the Voting Booth (Updated)

AnnieJo

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Friday September 19, 2014 · 3:08 PM PDT

2014/09/19 · 15:08

THIS is how things are in Wisconsin.

A Facebook group calling themselves the "Wisconsin Poll Watcher Militia" (update: ~~page has since disappeared~~ and now it's back!) is threatening armed intimidation of voters who signed the Scott Walker recall in 2012 who also have any outstanding warrants or tax defaults. The page claims "Our militia will watch polling places and report known felons and other people wanted by law enforcement. The police are looking for you, so are we."

Don't believe me? Check the screenshot below:

Text above: "Wisconsin Poll Watcher Militia is a force that is armed. Do not approach our members by engaging in a physical hostile act because you are going to get put down like a rabid dog.
We are going to be around neighborhoods that may be crime-filled. These areas are heavy democrat-voting areas because it is a result of a poor education.

We will be there to get criminal scum off the streets."

Though they've been vociferously denying any racist intent in who they might just "put down like a rabid dog," one has only to check the FB page heading to see who's doing the watching and which voters they intend to target.

How can they possibly be publicly planning this?

1) Wisconsin has been a conceal-carry state since 2011 (thanks to the Walker administration).

2) Due to another Walker-adminstration law, election observers can now stand as close as 3 feet to the poll tables.

3) They are finding their targets using a searchable database compiled after the recall, where rightwingers hand-entered the information from the recall petitions into a database, and then cross-referenced with publicly-available court information databases.

{jump}

Oh, and they plan to train their people thusly:

"Attention all members: Militia training will be at HQ on September 20, 2014 at 0930. We will hand out updated watch lists, duty assignments, and discuss rules and regulations. Expect it to take around 2-3 hours. After our discussion we will be headed to the range for anyone who wants to participate."

Update: Here is the Facebook Event-page for the training meeting.

The poll watcher militia story has been reported by Madison's Capital Times: 'Wisconsin Poll Watcher Militia' plans to confront Scott Walker recall petition signers at polls

PoliticsUSA who blogged the story yesterday, recommended contacting the voting section of the U.S. Department of Justice and requesting that the election be monitored.

Given how things are going around here... that might not be a bad idea.

= = = = = = =

UPDATE: ~~Well, check that out. Their Facebook page has disappeared.~~

~~And now the Facebook page is back! Hmmm... I can think of several interpretations for what might have happened there.~~

Update to the updated update -- The FB page has been up and down multiple times. They appear to be letting it be visible only when they have someone on duty to scrub the comments.

My previous statement still stands: I bet they didn't expect newspaper coverage, let alone DK-publicity. Heh.

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Wisconsin "Militia" Promises Armed Intimidation of Recall Signers at the Voting Booth (Updated)

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