Good Intentions Gone Awry?

The group’s goal seems admirable enough—to register some of the millions of unmarried women who aren’t engaged in the political process so that they can vote in the 2008 primaries and general election. Unfortunately, the efforts of Women’s Voices. Women Vote. (WVWV) is causing chaos and confusion in the states they’ve targeted—including Wisconsin.

The pro-woman organization is being hammered by bloggers and election watchers for its misleading robo-calls in North Carolina, which held its primary on Tuesday. The 182,236 calls, from a “Lamont Williams,” said that a voter registration packet would be sent to the recipient. The call didn’t mention that it was sponsored by WVWV, nor did it mention that voters must register by a certain date in order to be eligible for North Carolina’s May 6 primary.

Bloggers and voting-rights advocates have charged that the calls targeted African-American voters—not single women—who are more likely to vote for Democratic candidate Sen. Barack Obama. They argue that the phone calls could suppress African-American turnout by providing misleading information about the registration deadline.

Critics have also seized on the group’s links to the Clintons. The group’s founder and president, Page Gardner, has donated to Hillary Clinton. Other board members have connections to the Clintons as well, including John Podesta, former chief of staff to President Bill Clinton. At least one board member, William McNary, is an Obama supporter.

WVWV has apologized for the confusion it created, and explained that these voters would be registered for the November general election. Others argue that the board of WVWV is far too experienced and sophisticated not to know the rules in each state, since many have been involved in previous presidential elections.

WVWV’s spokeswoman, Sarah Johnson, was not able to comment for this article by press deadline.

Frustration in Wisconsin
WVWV has targeted an estimated 25 states for their voter-registration efforts, hoping to reach the 30 million single women who haven’t voted in recent elections. Its efforts in Wisconsin were criticized by (GAB) because WVWV “apparently ignored or disregarded state deadlines seeking to register voters just before presidential preference primary election,” according to a Feb. 17 GAB statement. Last week, Nathaniel Robinson, state elections division administrator for GAB, said that by Feb. 4, the GAB received 6,143 faulty voter registration forms initiated by WVWV. The “one-size-fits-all” forms, as Robinson dubbed them, don’t conform to Wisconsin’s voter registration requirements.

The GAB staff is required to process them the best they can, and then send them on to the appropriate municipal clerk, who must follow up with the registrant enter the information into the statewide voter registration database. “We are obligated to deal with these forms,” Robinson said. “We can’t just throw them in the trash.”

Adding to the confusion, Robinson the forms were mailed after Jan. 30, deadline for mail-in registration. “So the voter thinks that they are properly registered,” Robinson said. “But when they get to the polls that may not be case. It causes bad will and confusion and serves to undermine the electoral system here in Wisconsin and in other states. They [WVWV] have well-meaning intentions, but I wish they would do their research before they blast the nation with their cards—but they don’t.”

Robinson said the forms arrived from over the state, and he has no way of knowing whether WVWV targeted African Americans in addition to single women. also said he had not heard if WVWV sponsored robo-calls in Wisconsin, as they had in North Carolina, Ohio and Virginia.

He added that Michigan’s election calls are warning colleagues in other states about WVWV’s faulty voter registration forms. Robinson said that 65% Michigan’s WVWV-generated voter registrations were duplicates of that state’s voter rolls, and also included registrations deceased voters, cats and dogs.

Robinson said that in addition WVWV’s two mailings in Wisconsin before the primary, it is planning to do another registration blitz this summer. “It’s a problem nationwide,” Robinson said. “We are trying to deal with it.”

Robinson encouraged new voters to contact their local clerk and register there. GAB will also sponsor a voter registration drive this summer to prevent confusion and bottlenecks at the polls on Nov. 4.

What’s your take? Write: editor@shepex.com or comment on this story online at www.expressmilwaukee.com