Nancy Pelosi is getting fact-checked for this claim made by her @TeamPelosi political account that claimed “200,000 registered Wisconsin voters will be prohibited from voting” in 2020 because of a “voter purge”:
It’s beyond alarming that more than 200,000 registered Wisconsin voters will be prohibited from voting.
Less than a year from the election, we must ensure @WisDems have the resources to respond with a massive voter registration effort.
Don’t agonize. Organize! ? https://t.co/pTZPttXf6B
— Nancy Pelosi (@TeamPelosi) December 17, 2019
Thousands of retweets and likes later, however, we find out this her statement is totally bogus. Here’s journo Molly Beck from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
Dear 2,000 people who retweeted this: It’s not correct.
Here’s what’s going on: https://t.co/2V0ZkqXIqA https://t.co/MVYybxcCrA
— Molly Beck (@MollyBeck) December 18, 2019
Basically, the state sent out letters to hundreds of thousands of people saying it looks like they moved and they need to either re-register at their new address or send back a letter saying they hadn’t moved. And this is getting litigated right now. From her article:
An appeals court Wednesday let stand — for now — an order that more than 200,000 people be removed from Wisconsin’s voter rolls because they may have moved.
In a two-page order, the Court of Appeals rejected a request to immediately block a decision by Ozaukee County Circuit Judge Paul Malloy to quickly take the voters off the rolls.
Instead, the court said it wanted to hear from those who brought the lawsuit and gave them a Monday deadline to submit a filing.
At issue is the voting status of thousands of people who election officials believe might have moved because they filed changes of address at the post office, registered vehicles at new addresses or provided new addresses to other government agencies.
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But it’s actually worse than that, as PolitiFact points out in its Pants on Fire ruling:
"Pants on Fire" rating for Nancy Pelosi for claiming 200,000 voters “will be prohibited from voting” in Wisconsin. — via @EricLitke | PolitiFact Wisconsin https://t.co/g34zaMQhto
— Patrick Marley (@patrickdmarley) December 18, 2019
You see, even if these people were wrongly taken off the rolls and de-registered, they would be allowed to vote on election day:
But anyone in this group has multiple opportunities to regain their status as registered voters. Voters who are removed from the rolls — correctly or not — can re-register online, at their clerk’s office or even at the polls on Election Day.
Wisconsin is one of 21 states that allows voters to register at their polling place the day of the election, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Addressing this at the polls would mean filling out paperwork and providing proof of residence such as a driver’s license, property tax bill, utility bill, bank statement, paycheck stub, lease or workplace ID. That means some people — we have no idea how many — could be unable to vote if they can’t provide proof of residence at the polls and don’t re-register beforehand.
Maybe Team Pelosi should delete this tweet and apologize? Like, right now.
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