FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 13, 2020
MILWAUKEE–Shauntay Nelson, Wisconsin State Director of All Voting is Local, issued the following statement in response to the Ozaukee County Circuit Court ruling to immediately remove more than 200,000 Wisconsin voters from registration lists:
“This flawed decision unfairly strips away the rights of more than 200,000 Wisconsinites, and it threatens to sow confusion into the electoral process and keep eligible voters from making their voices heard. No eligible voter should ever lose the right to vote, regardless of who they are, where they live, or whether they move frequently. Wisconsin’s purge process is a distinct threat to our democracy, causing disproportionate harm to vulnerable communities including people of color and low-income voters.
“The Wisconsin Elections Commission must be allowed to do its job to ensure voters are not wrongfully removed from the rolls. We support the commission’s request for more time to ensure that voter rolls are accurate. Election officials should focus on keeping voters on the rolls — not being forced to remove them.”
All Voting is Local intends to reach voters where they are to alert them to check and update their registrations through such tactics as digital ads and text messages, as the campaign has done nationwide where voter purges threaten the right to vote.
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All Voting is Local fights to eliminate needless and discriminatory barriers to voting before they happen, to build a democracy that works for us all. It is a collaborative campaign housed at The Leadership Conference Education Fund, in conjunction with the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation; the American Constitution Society; the Campaign Legal Center; and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. For more information about All Voting is Local, visit https://allvotingislocal.org and follow us on Twitter @votingislocal.