MSNBC - City, county spar over ballot supply

MSNBC - City, county spar over ballot supply

Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker, citing vote-fraud concerns, is publicly balking at a City of Milwaukee request for almost 260,000 additional ballots in anticipation of high turnout for the Nov. 2 presidential election.

Mayor Tom Barrett blasted Walker's stance, and Common Council President Willie Hines Jr. immediately joined in, saying it was an attempt to suppress the central-city vote.

'I'm going to lay this at the footsteps of the county if there aren't enough ballots in the city,' said Barrett.
Barrett said that the 679,000 ballots the county had agreed to print were less than the amount prepared for the presidential election in 2000 as well as for the the gubernatorial race in 2002. He and the city's top election official said that the city requested 938,000 ballots from the county, which, by law, pays for and prints ballots.

In a letter sent to City Elections chief Lisa Artison, Walker said that he had 'serious questions' about the need for that many ballots when the city reported having 382,000 registered voters in September.

Walker said that having excess ballots around was troublesome in light of possible illegalities in current voter-registration drives - already under investigation by the district attorney - and potential 'chaos' at understaffed polling places where voters could grab ballots.

He has invited all municipal election clerks to a meeting in his office Thursday to discuss voting safeguards and ballot requests.

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