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Here’s a hypothetical; Lets say you write for a comedy show that tackles current events and you find a story that seems so odd and disturbing that you really don’t have to write any jokes. Your host can just describe it and it will be funny. Are you a) happy because it makes your job easy, or b) unhappy because seriously this is a pretty f-ed up story!

That’s the question I was asking myself as I watched Stephen Colbert take on the alleged voter suppression being undertaken by a few Wisconsin Conservative groups connected to the Koch Brothers. The groups, like Americans for Prosperity, sent absentee ballot applications related to the upcoming Wisconsin recall vote to voters in Democratic districts. The odd thing is the applications give an election date two whole days after the actual one. Just a simple mistake.

Not to say that the Report staff was laying down on the job, just that that’s a story that really doesn’t need any editorializing. http://www.mediaite.com/tv/stephen-colbert-takes-on-the-koch-brothers-
alleged-voter-suppression-in-wisconsin/

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They killed it earlier in the show (as they’ve been doing a lot recently) with a segment mocking the outrage over President Obama daring (DARING!) to celebrate his 50th birthday while the country still, I guess, exists or whatever. And, in between those two segments, was a wonderful bit of goofiness on silly names that had Colbert breaking for about 10 seconds.

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Apparently desperate in Wisconsin, Republican operatives working for the Koch brothers funded group Americans For Prosperity (AFP) have been caught sending absentee ballots to Democrats with instructions to return the ballots after the election date.

The implication seems clear: Republicans are trying to suppress voter turnout in support of Democrats seeking office in the upcoming state senate recall elections.

Monday night the Democratic Party of Wisconsin announced they will file a formal complaint against the Koch brothers and their group, Americans For Prosperity. Wisconsin Democrats are seeking "the immediate end to the Koch Brothers-funded scheme to suppress Democratic votes in upcoming recall elections and called on six recall Republican senators to denounce the tactic."

Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair Mike Tate issued the following statement:

Scott Walker has sought the help of the corporate front group "Americans For Prosperity," and here they come with dirty tricks clearly meant to meddle in our elections and suppress votes against the Koch Brothers' agenda. Wisconsin's election authorities must stop the black hand of the corporate special interests and their front groups who are trying to strangle democracy in our state and support the six Republican senators now facing recall.

These six Republicans must immediately denounce the AFP scheme or it will signal to the public that they endorse the suppression of Wisconsin votes.

According to at least one report, Matt Seaholm, state director of Wisconsin AFP, blamed the mistake on a typo, saying his group was not trying to mislead anyone.

What do you think? Is this an innocent mistake - a typo? Or is this voter fraud - a craven and despicable attempt to disenfranchise Wisconsin voters? http://www.examiner.com/democrat-in-national/gop-dirty-tricks-koch-bro
s-afp-voter-fraud-wisconsin pretty clear...they neglected to mention that the effort was focused in ONE direction only:

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AFP mailed absentee ballots to Democrats in at least two Wisconsin State Senate recall districts containing instructions to return the paperwork after the election date. More at http://freakoutnation.com/2011/08/01/david-kochs-group-tied-to-electio
n-fraud-in-wisconsin/ with Wisconsin's Government Accountability Board said Monday they had seen absentee ballot applications, supposedly being distributed to voters, containing errors. The errors have included incorrect addresses and dates.
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Kevin Kennedy, Wisconsin's chief election officer, said that if the address on the absentee ballot application mailer or envelope is incorrect, it could go to the wrong place and ultimately could be not counted.
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The board has also received reports that some automated telephone calls and telephone polls in recent days contained incorrect election dates. More at http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/article/20110802/GPG0101/108020479
/Absentee-ballot-application-Cowles-Nusbaum-recall-race-has-wrong-date?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE

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The mailing address for the applications is listed as "Absentee Ballot Application Processing Center, P.O. Box 1327, Madison WI 53701-1327." A Google search shows that this address is not any sort of government office, but has been used by the conservative group Wisconsin Family Action. More at http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/08/koch-group-mails-suspicious
-absentee-ballot-letters-in-wisconsin.php the right came back with the following, under the headline "Fraud Inundates Wisconsin Senate Recall!"

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a small leftwing Wisconsin front group has been caught handing out barbecue chicken dinners to those who vote early in the Wisconsin recall elections. http://biggovernment.com/mtrackers/2011/08/04/fraud-inundates-wisconsi
n-senate-recall/!! Giving out food to people who vote early (any people, no mention of which PARTY they should vote for, and NOTHING like direct voter fraud, but hey, you go with whatcha got).

So it's not just sending fraudulent ballots ONLY TO DEMOCRATS giving a false date for the election, there have been phone calls doing the same, and, as Colbert pointed out, a deliberately wrong address to mail the ballots TO. It don't get a whole lot more obvious.

Which of course will be totally ignored by our righties, I'm sure.


Hippie Operative Nikovich Nikita Nicovna Talibani,
Contracted Agent of Veritas Oilspillus, code name “Nike”,
signing off

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AFP Wisconsin director Matt Seaholm told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that the August 11 date in the mailer was a typo, and that the group is not trying to mislead voters.

"This just went out to our members," Seaholm said. "I'm sure the liberals will try to make a mountain out of a molehill in an attempt to distract voters' attention from the issues."

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