Protesters demand Wisconsin voter rolls be left alone, call judge's decision to remove them 'voter suppression'

Talis Shelbourne | Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Show Caption Hide Caption Protesting voter suppression at City Hall Organizations hold rally opposing judge’s removal of hundreds of thousands of people from Wisconsin's voter rolls.

Chants of "protect our votes" echoed from the fifth floor of City Hall as dozens of protesters decried a judge's decision last week that could result in more than 200,000 Wisconsin voters being removed from the voting rolls.

At a rally attended by multiple union and civic engagement groups protesters hoisted signs that read "Taking away student votes is wrong," and demanded that Wisconsin voter rolls be left alone.

The rally was organized in response to Ozaukee County Circuit Judge Paul Malloy's decision last Friday that could lead to roughly 234,000 voters being taken off Wisconsin's voter rolls because the Wisconsin Elections Commission believe those voters might have moved.

The Elections Commission, which consists of three Democrats and three Republicans, sent out letters in October asking voters to update their voter registrations if they had moved or alert election officials if they were still at their same address.

Originally, those who did not respond were going to be removed from the rolls in 2021. But Malloy's decision would kick them off the rolls much sooner, and well before the 2020 presidential election.

The decision has attracted national attention because of the important role Wisconsin is expected to play in the election.

"We wanted to come out and protest people being taken off the voter rolls," said Rev. Greg Lewis of Souls to the Polls. "Most of those people are underprivileged, underserved, people of color. This is so un-American."

Sathena Gillespie and her 79-year-old grandmother, Lena Hicks, received notices from the Elections Commission telling them they needed to re-register.

Gillepsie said she doesn't understand why her grandmother, who has owned and lived in the same home for 20 years, is being asked to re-register.

"My grandmother fought for the right to vote," she said. "I feel like it's a slap in the face."

Felicia McCoats Ellzey, 49, has lived in Milwaukee off-and-on for 30 years. After a recent move back, she said she registered and voted in the 2018 elections.

But like Gillespie, she also received a notice from the commission telling her to re-register. When she responded telling them that she still lives here, they sent the same letter telling her to re-register.

"I guess I'll have to go and re-register again," she said.

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The letters went to about 7% of Wisconsin's registered voters. However, they were concentrated in areas such as Milwaukee and Madison, where 23% of letters were sent even though Milwaukee and Madison account for only 14% of Wisconsin's registered voters.

Anita Johnson, the leader of Souls to the Polls, encouraged people who are removed from the voter rolls, whether correctly or mistakenly, to re-register online, at their clerk's office or at the polls on election day.

Contact Talis Shelbourne at (414) 223-5261 or tshelbourn@jrn.com. Follow her on Twitter at @talisseer and Facebook at @talisseer.

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