State officials reacted Thursday to the lawsuit filed against the Government Accountability Board by Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen.
In the lawsuit filed Wednesday, Van Hollen claims the Government Accountability Board has not appropriately verified all information on voter registration forms.
Julee Helt, immediate past president for the Wisconsin Municipal Clerks Association, said Van Hollen’s actions could disenfranchise Wisconsin voters whose registration does not match their Department of Transportation records due to simple typos or name changes.
Helt said students who moved over the summer should have no problem on Election Day as long as the student’s name on the registration form is identical to the name on their driver’s license.
Kyle Richmond, public information officer for the Government Accountability Board, said registering to vote in Wisconsin is easier than in most other states.
As a result, he said most disciplinary action and voter registration checks are done after election and checking all voter information before the election would be a huge undertaking in an already busy election season.
In a statement released Thursday, Government Accountability Board director Kevin Kennedy made a similar statement.
“The Board believes it would be counter-productive to rush this effort and to create a significant risk, at best, of unnecessary hardship and confusion at the polls, and at worst, the disenfranchisement of Wisconsin citizens with a clear and legitimate right to vote,” he said.
Kennedy said the GAB will not let the lawsuit distract them from preparing for the Nov. 4 election, and they have requested a special counsel to represent them in court.
Mark Jefferson, executive director of the Republican Party of Wisconsin, said the lawsuit is “very timely,” and said the Republican Party is concerned the Government Accountability Board is not taking the issue of voter fraud seriously.
He said he wants it to be easier for citizens to vote, but harder for them to cheat by casting unlawful votes.
According to Jefferson, Wisconsin has some of the least restrictive election laws in the nation, and it is important to enforce restrictions prior to elections.
“We think that anyone interested in clean and fair elections in Wisconsin should be very pleased with the courage that it took and the courage that the Attorney General has shown by moving forward with this suit,” he said.
