WI Senator Sheila Harsdorf (R) is facing a recall election. The volunteers have turned in over 23,000 signatures, well over the 15,744 required. Just 3 weeks ago during the Supreme Court election these same volunteers were out at the polls. in addition to voting they were getting the extra signatures so they could turn in 150% of the signatures required for recall.
Election day on April 5th saw many people at the polls. Volunteers with "Recall Harsdorf - Sign the Petition Here" signs and the Republicans with their "I Stand With Sheila" message worked the crowds as people left their polling location. Over 1,200 recall signatures were collected that day alone, as over 38,000 citizens voted that in just that district.
Harsdorf was not at the polls to face voters that day. Instead Harsdorf chose to vote absentee. Voting absentee is quite simple in Wisconsin. A voter requests an absentee ballot then fills it out and places it in the ballot envelope. The voter and a witness are then required to sign their name to the ballot envelope. It seems like reasonable rules, ones that most voters can comply to with no problems. But not Harsdorf. Instead she returned a ballot in an envelope without a witness signature.
This was not caught on election day, her illegal vote was opened and counted in the original certified result of the WI Supreme Court election. Normally the story would end here, but due to the recount the ballot bags were opened and examined in the presence of witnesses and observers from both campaigns. At this point the illegal vote was discovered.
Now instead of 19 legal absentee ballots being cast in the Town of River Falls there were only 18. But there were 19 ballots mixed together. Wisconsin law wisely requires that there not be more votes cast than legal voters. The law further requires that ballots be removed at random until the ballots equal the number of legal voters. So one persons ballot was pulled and their vote discarded. We will never know what voter had their ballot discarded. We can know the odds though - 18 times out of 19 it won't be Harsdorf that loses their vote.
Was the Harsdorf ballot opened because of her position? Could a normal citizen expect to get the same treatment? These questions are certainly past my pay grade. What we can know for sure is that one voter already had their ballot discarded, and Harsdorf is hell bent on making sure others face the same fate.
This is the same Senator that is co-sponsoring a voter ID bill. Much like asking Obama for his birth certificate this bill is code for something else. That code is restrict the poor, minorities, students, and elderly from voting. This is not the Wisconsin way. Harsdorf should be ashamed.
Volunteers collected 23,000 signatures to Recall Harsdorf. She didn't even get the one signature required for her to avoid the voters on election day.
More info at http://www.recallharsdorf.com/
Donations will help keep our grassroots basement office open and the phone paid so we may help the recall becomes a replace.
Photos below the fold
The Recall Harsdorf Office in River Falls WI
Turning in over 23,000 signatures for recall
The official receipt
The recount in Pierce County WI
Exhibit B, ballot envelope without witness signature
