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Wisconsin Prepares For Midterm Elections

Voters arrive to cast their absentee ballots at the Madison Central Public Library on the last day of early voting on November 6, 2022, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. | Source: Chip Somodevilla / Getty

Republicans often scoff at the idea that the GOP represents the party of voter suppression. Sure, they pass stricter voting laws under the guise of election security for elections they can’t prove need further securing. Sure, they arbitrarily move to restrict felons from voting because they haven’t paid all their legal fees yet. Sure, they remove registered Black voters from the voting rolls as nonchalantly as if they were emptying an ashtray. Sure, they move to redistrict their congressional maps to dilute Black voting power.

But nah, they’re not intentionally aiming for lower voter turnouts at all. That would be unethical, manipulative and, dare I say, un-American, amirite?

In fact, only recently have Republicans come right out and admitted that they want as few people voting as possible because they believe low-turnout elections benefit the Republican party, despite the data not exactly supporting that theory.

Anyway, meet Bob Spindell, the chairman of the Fourth Congressional District GOP and vice chair of the Wisconsin Elections Commission.

According to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Spindel recently sent out an email to his Republican colleagues praising the lower voter turnout in Milwaukee “due to a ‘well thought out multi-faceted plan’” that included a “substantial & very effective Republican Coordinated Election Integrity program resulting with lots of Republican paid Election Judges & trained Observers & extremely significant continued Court Litigation,” in reference to the 2022 midterm elections in the state.

Basically, Spindel is patting himself and his fellow GOPropagandists for filing lawsuits that added more voting restrictions, targeting Black voters with negative ads and campaigning for Democratic voters to stay home instead of exercising their rights to vote.

Either Spindel wasn’t expecting the email to be seen by anyone outside of his GOPowwow, or he is clearly out here saying the quiet part out loud.

From the Journal-Sentinel:

“The elections commission was not set up to be fair,” Spindell said. “The oath of office that we take does not say anything about not being nonpartisan. We were appointed by Republican and Democratic officials to be partisan and there is nobody more partisan than Ann Jacobs and Mark Thomsen and that is meant to be a compliment.”

Spindell said by touting lower voter turnout he was praising efforts by Republicans to make inroads with lifelong Democrats. He said Thomsen’s comments were ignoring the fact that commissioners are supposed to be partisan.

“The elections commission was not set up to be fair,” Spindell said. “The oath of office that we take does not say anything about not being nonpartisan. We were appointed by Republican and Democratic officials to be partisan and there is nobody more partisan than Ann Jacobs and Mark Thomsen and that is meant to be a compliment.”

“Three partisan Democrats and three partisan Republicans try to get together and come out with (guidance) that is in the best interest of Wisconsin and at the same time recognizing the interests of the (political parties) must be protected.”

In a five-page memo touting the party’s 2022 campaign strategies, Spindell wrote that the party is “especially proud of how the City of Milwaukee’s gross vote went down from 74% to 63% of registered voters — 37,000 total votes less than cast in 2018.”

“We must remember, in the strategy of things, it is often extremely difficult & hard to convert a hard core, long term generation type Democrat to all of a sudden, bring himself or herself around to vote for a Republican. However, by our Republican efforts, pointing out strongly, how the Democrat Candidates are worse than or certainly no better than their perception of the Republican Candidates, at all levels, they hopefully cannot bring themselves to vote for either one,” Spindell wrote.

“In a Democrat City or Democrat County where up to 80% of the people are voting for the Democrats – that’s a good thing and helped insure that Sen. Johnson got over the goal line.”

Wisconsin Senate Candidate Mandela Barnes Concedes Election To Ron Johnson

Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes speaks at a press conference to announce that he is conceding the U.S. Senate race on November 9, 2022, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. | Source: Scott Olson / Getty

A couple of things to note here:

First, Spindell literally just said, “The elections commission was not set up to be fair,” as if that wasn’t any kind of a startling admission coming from an election commissioner at all, especially one who joined Donald Trump in falsely claiming the 2020 election was “rigged.”

Secondly, he’s bragging about reducing Milwaukee votes by 37,000 in an election where Republican incumbent Sen. Ron Johnson defeated Black Democrat Mandela Barnes by just 27,000 votes in the Wisconsin Senate race.

And of course, without missing a beat, Spindell goes on to brag about manipulating Black people into not voting while also being yet another Caucasian who thinks he knows more about what Black people need than actual Black people do.

“While a great deal of credit goes to the RNC/RPW/Johnson paid staff and our many dedicated volunteers; our recruitment of good candidates & their hard work for these areas; continued presence on a Black Talk Radio Show coupled with Negative Black Radio Commercials, there is still a great deal of much more concentrated work we need to do in the Black and Hispanic Communities by continuing to show how the Democratic Elected Officials and Candidates are not watching out for the livelihoods of the people who live in these areas and the Republicans can,” he wrote.

In other words: GOPolitics continue to be shameful, suppressive and racist.

And they don’t even seem to be trying to hide it anymore.

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The post Wisconsin GOP Election Official Boasted Of Targeting Black Voters For Low Turnout, Leaked Email Shows appeared first on NewsOne.

Wisconsin GOP Election Official Boasted Of Targeting Black Voters For Low Turnout, Leaked Email Shows  was originally published on newsone.com

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