Yesterday it was revealed that conservative group Americans for Prosperity was sending Democratic voters in the Wisconsin recall elections absentee ballots with
incorrect submission deadlines. While the recalls elections against Republican state senators are on Aug. 9, the mailings told Democratic voters in those six districts they could return their absentee ballots as late as Aug. 11.
Now, Americans for Prosperity claims this was simply a typo:
Matt Seaholm, state director of AFP, told No Quarter that the incorrect date was a typo and the letter was only sent to AFP members. However, two of the individuals filing complaints against AFP claim they aren't members of the organization and are, in fact, identified as being "card-carrying Democrats"
Here is AFP's explanation for how Democrats ended up receiving the mailing:
"No (mailing) list is perfect," Seaholm said.
Americans for Prosperity sure makes a lot of mistakes. Fortunately, on their blog, they promise to correct them:
AFP-Wisconsin is directly addressing this mistake by sending out a call to each and every individual on the mailing list to clarify the date of the elections.
Phew. However, I hope they aren't referring to these calls that the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board is warning about:
Elections Division Administrator Nathaniel E. Robinson said the G.A.B has also received reports that some automated telephone calls and telephone polls in recent days have contained incorrect election dates.
Wisconsin Democrats are fighting through all this with a massive, volunteer-driven effort to get out the vote. On a media call today, state party chair Mike Tate said that 6,961 volunteers are scheduled to contact 731,010 voters this weekend. That total is virtually identical to the number of voters in the eight state senate districts with upcoming recall elections, six of which are on Aug. 9 and two of which are on Aug. 16.
No matter where you live, you can take part in the get out the vote effort yourself by signing up at the Democratic Party of Wisconsin's website.
