WASHINGTON, DC – In response to a formal request from Congresswoman Gwen Moore (D-WI), Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Congressmen Ron Kind (D-WI) and Mark Pocan (D-WI), the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced today that its Civil Rights Division plans to deploy resources to Wisconsin for tomorrow’s general election. Congresswoman Moore and Congressman Pocan responded to this announcement with the following statement: 

 

“I take great comfort in knowing that personnel from the U.S. Justice Department will be on the ground in Milwaukee during this historic election,” said Congresswoman Moore. “Too many Wisconsinites, especially those in communities of color, face a host of unnecessary obstacles in their efforts exercise their constitutional right to vote. This is simply unacceptable. My colleagues and I in Wisconsin’s Democratic congressional delegation would like to thank the DOJ for ensuring that all voters, regardless of party affiliation or political ideology, have the right to take part in our democracy, free of discrimination or intimidation.”

 

“The decision by the Department of Justice, while welcome, is a bittersweet victory for those of us who want to ensure voting rights are upheld,” said Congressman Pocan. “Although the DOJ’s efforts to enforce federal voting-rights laws is essential to fending off the worst aspects of this relentless attack on the right to vote, my colleagues and I will fight to end the suppression and intimidation that have become normalized in this election. The bedrock of democracy is the robust participation of all of us in the political process—this has always been a core Wisconsin value. We cannot and will not tolerate the continued threat of disenfranchisement against hundreds of thousands of Wisconsinites.” 

 

In an op-ed published earlier today, Congresswoman Moore and Congressman Pocan outlined their motivation behind the request to the DOJ and underscored how Wisconsin’s voter ID law puts the franchise of many Wisconsinites, particularly people of color, in serious jeopardy.

 

Click here to read Congresswoman Moore and Congressman Pocan’s op-ed in the Huffington Post.

 

Click here to read the full text of the signed letter to the DOJ.

 

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