Dennis Hughes | (262) 455-1542 | dennis@cathymyersforcongress.
Janesville City Council to Consider Resolution to Force City’s Most Diverse Neighborhoods to Vote in a Police Station
Janesville, WI – Tonight, the Janesville City Council will consider a resolution to temporarily move the polling place of the city’s two most ethnically diverse neighborhoods to a police station.
Cathy Myers, the 24-year high school teacher and two-term Janesville School Board member who is challenging Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, sees the change as just the latest assault on the voting rights of African American voters in Wisconsin.
Myers said, “Since Scott Walker took office, Wisconsin Republicans have taken away the voice of African American voters through unconstitutional gerrymandering and the strictest voter ID law in the country.”
The polling location change is temporary due to construction at the city’s municipal building, but moving the voting location is expecting to have a chilling effect on minority communities in the cities most diverse neighborhoods, Wards 3 and 4.
Myers continued, “The Janesville Police Department has made great strides in reaching out to minority communities, thanks in large part to the ongoing dialogue between police and the Janesville African American Liaison Committee. But if a single voter is discouraged from exercising their right to vote due to the location of a polling place, it’s one too many.”
Lonnie Brigham, Chair of the African American Liaison Committee opposed the move, “historically police have been used to intimidate and suppress black voters, and this is just another example of that.”
You can learn more about Cathy Myers’ campaign on her website, Facebook, and Twitter.
