WI judge orders Green Bay clerk to grant poll watchers greater access to in-person absentee voting

A Wisconsin judge on Wednesday ordered a clerk in Green Bay to grant poll watchers greater access to in-person absentee voting, siding with Republicans who alleged the clerk was improperly allowing them to only view certain parts of process.

Judge Marc A. Hammer ordered City Clerk Celestine Jeffreys to allow poll watchers access to areas where voters complete witness certification and return their ballots in the city hall building. His order came a day after the Republican National Committee filed the lawsuit in Brown County.

Poll watchers, referred to as election observers in Wisconsin, are legally entitled to view all the public parts of the voting process from an area designated by an election official. There are no residency requirements to be a poll watcher in the state.

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Jeffreys said Wednesday afternoon that her office has complied with the order.

"In response to a legal action brought by the RNC regarding rules of observation, the city has provided additional areas of observation," Jeffreys said in a statement emailed to The Associated Press. "The modifications made will continue to preserve and protect the integrity of the in-person absentee voting process while protecting voter security and freedom."

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According to the complaint, Jeffreys had previously allowed observers to be in her office, where voters would check in, register to vote and receive their ballots. However, voters were then sent into the hallway outside her office — out of sight of the poll watchers — to mark their choices, certify their ballot with a witness and place it in a ballot box.

The clerk said she has received other requests for greater observation access that "would have resulted in intrusions upon voters actively casting their ballots," a private part of the voting process protected by law.

The lawsuit is the latest in a slew of legal actions by Republicans targeting administration of the 2022 election. The RNC said it has filed 75 election-related lawsuits this cycle.

The party has also devoted millions of dollars to recruiting poll watchers and election workers by the thousands, a move that has raised concerns about insider threats and aggressive observers.

Suburban Women Join Blacks, Hispanics In Exodus To GOP Ahead Of Elections

You gotta’ wonder about pollsters.

For the last few months, nearly every pollster said the midterm elections were tight. Pick ’em, they said. Could go either way, they said. Democrats hold the Senate, could keep House, too, they said.

Suddenly, all that has changed. Nationwide surveys now show a flood of voters to the Republican Party — blacks, Hispanics, and now, in a new poll, women.

“White suburban women, a key group of midterm voters, have significantly shifted their support from Democrats to Republicans in the closing days of midterm campaigning because of rising concerns over the economy and inflation, according to the latest Wall Street Journal poll,” the paper reported on Wednesday.

The numbers are staggering. It’s not just a trickle of women, it’s a torrent.

“The new survey shows that white women living in suburban areas, who make up 20% of the electorate, now favor Republicans for Congress by 15 percentage points, moving 27 percentage points away from Democrats since the Journal’s August poll,” the paper wrote.

“We’re talking about a collapse, if you will, in that group on the perceptions of the economy,” Republican pollster Tony Fabrizio, who conducted the poll with Democratic pollster John Anzalone, told the Journal.

White suburban women are joining blacks and Hispanic voters, who are moving to the GOP amid skyrocketing gas and food prices and soaring crime rates across the country.

“The issue of inflation – and the feeling that the White House hasn’t done enough to address it – is helping Republicans score significant inroads among Hispanic and Black voters, both demographic groups that Democrats have long relied on for support,” USA Today reported last week.

“Now 40% of Hispanics and 21% of Blacks are backing the Republican candidate,” according to a USA Today/Suffolk University poll. Those numbers are huge — black support is up 15 points from 6% in the last midterms to 21%, and Hispanic support jumped 15 points to 40%.

The sudden movement among the voting blocs comes as blacks and Hispanics have grown increasingly frustrated with soaring crime in U.S. cities. After decades of failure by Democrats — who have long run the biggest American cities — perhaps it’s time to give the other guys a try.

But there are a few other driving forces in the movement. The predominantly Christian black and Hispanic blocs are not supportive of the gay and transgender issues being pushed by Democrats. And they’re not at all happy about the defund the police and no-bail practices spouted by liberals — mainly because in the cities, they’re the most affected by the policies.

Eight in 10 (81%) of black Democrats say violent crime is a “very important” issue in the 2022 election, according to a recent Pew survey of registered voters. That compares to just 33% of white Democrats.

“Black Americans have consistently been more likely than other racial and ethnic groups to express concern about violent crime, and that remains the case this year,” the pollsters said.

Although the polls had the 2022 elections neck and neck for months, now white suburban women, blacks and Hispanics are bailing on the Democratic Party.

Expect a red tsunami on Election Day.

The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Joseph Curl has covered politics for 35 years, including 12 years as White House correspondent for a national newspaper. He was also the a.m. editor of the Drudge Report for four years. Send tips to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and follow him on Twitter @josephcurl.

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