AG Josh Kaul touted his joining of a lawsuit against controversial postal service changes and accused President Trump of seeking to “destroy the post office” in hopes of creating an unfair election so he can win a second term.
“This is not acceptable in a democracy, and we are not going to stand for that,” Kaul said during a virtual voter protection rally today.
In addition to suing over postal service changes, which Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said he is suspending until after the election, he noted his office is defending the state in a suit over deactivating the registrations of voters who may have moved.
Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes stressed the importance of protecting voters’ opportunities to cast ballots.
“Right now, we’re facing a pandemic. … racist voter suppression tactics, sabotaging the postal service and whatever else the GOP is looking to throw at us,’ he said. “So now, more than ever, it’s important to understand how to mobilize voters to the polls, registering people to vote and educating our communities about the different options to safely vote this fall.”
Barnes slammed Republicans for rejecting calls to delay the April election and send all voters an absentee ballot as the COVID-19 pandemic spread in Wisconsin. He said a GOP lawsuit over the election sought to disenfranchise people.
“It’s a sad state of affairs that we’re in right now, as we see democracy continuously attacked by Donald Trump and his enablers in statehouses in Wisconsin and all over the country,” Barnes said. “Republican leadership knew what they were doing and took every step that they could possibly take to disenfranchise people, especially in brown and black communities.”
U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Milwaukee, said that “our fundamental right to vote is really being challenged.”
She added that instead of serving as an example for fledgling democracies, “we find ourselves in real conflict with our constitutional principles and the things that we fought for” when the country won independence.
Also speaking during the event were California AG Xavier Becerra, former Georgia state Rep. Stacey Abrams and David Kronig, director of voter protection at the Democratic Party of Wisconsin.
Kronig encouraged people to sign up to be poll watchers for the November 3 election, saying that by being at the polls, “you could be the one to save those few votes that we need to swing the election.”
