In May 2011, I volunteered to be an observer in the recount of the Joanne Kloppenburg/David Prosser Wisconsin Supreme Court election triggered when Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus “found” 14,000 votes two days after Kloppenburg won. Months before, Scott Walker “dropped the bomb” with his now-famous budget repair bill and sent the state into a tail spin when he announced he would roll back collective bargaining rights for public workers.
The 14 Democrats leaving the state revealed a deeper malfunction than just “business as usual” wrangling of the left and right. As the political struggle worsened, election fraud was not the only major issue plaguing the system. Legislative, judicial and media fraud were the other three legs of this attack dog. Helpless, we watched the majority party break the law with no consequence, and rapid-fire, lock-step extortion vote in bill after bill designed to benefit the corporations sponsoring them. Doors to open government slammed shut and as Walker declared Wisconsin “Open for Business,” a state of fascism was quickly installed.
Fascism: A privatized government manipulated by the wealthy who intentionally use their strength to silence the voice of the people, thereby forcibly suppressing opposition and criticism. Using judicial, election, and legislative fraud to regulate industry to benefit their needs, the fascists then use media fraud to broadcast lies and propaganda as tools of suppression. These totalitarians consist of corporations, banks, a powerful mining cartel—trucking, big equipment manufacturers, utilities—as well as voting machine manufacturers and corrupt politicians at all levels of government. They are attempting to create a centralized, privatized police state that has control of all resources, and that will not tolerate opinions different than theirs as they exercise dictatorial control over every aspect of our lives.
Today is the one-year anniversary of Rep. Scott Fitzgerald (R-ALEC) publicly violating open meeting laws and “passing” Act 10, thereby dismantling public sector unions. What a difference a year makes: a John Doe investigation looms as arrests are being made. Voter ID has been struck down, redistricting is in court, GTAC mines just lost the battle for the Penokees, and 2,000,000 signatures to remove six Republican Fascists later, it’s time to revisit the recount.
I would like to present excerpts from my book, STEAL THIS BOOK, NOT MY VOTE, due to be released April 7, 2012 as a way to rekindle the cry to election protection. May it inspire you to stand up and participate in election reform in your neck of the woods.
One clerk, one polling place, one town as a time, Wisconsin is once again placed in the forefront of a movement. Once again, the whole world is watching.
Barbara With
March 9, 2012
INTRODUCTION
One of several photos of a touch screen poll tape I observed from Penaukee dated March 30, 2011 1:40 AM for an election that took place April 5, 2011. On Frinday, May 16, Barbara Hanson, election official overseeing the recount in Waukesha, confirmed twice that this was an official ballot. The same day, another clerk was sworn in and testified that this was indeed a real ballot, but that the votes were taken on April 5th but that she could not confirm how they got to be dated March 30th. On Monday, May 19, I submitted a letter to the canvassing board to include in the minutes a feasible explanation for how this date stamping occured. It was then I was told there were no touch screen votes from Pewaukee. Subsequent investigation with voting machine representative Aaron Storbeck confirms the only way to get an official ballot dated five days before an election is to insert the programmed pack, designed to only be used on election day, into the voting machine on that date and run off votes.
STEAL THIS BOOK, NOT MY VOTE is my eyewitness account from the front lines of the Wisconsin revolution. Since Scott Walker took office in January 2011, Wisconsin has been under attack by corporate politicians who seem to be engaged in a hostile takeover of our government. Being on the front line barricades, I soon realized that even people living in the state had no idea what was really going on. Between the media’s shameful lack of investigative reporting, and the propaganda machine working overtime to spin Walker’s corporate agenda, our Fourth Estate is shredded. The real story behind the propaganda is found in first-hand accounts reported on the social media and, literally, in the streets.
After filing complaints with the Government Accountability Board and the US Department of Justice, and through repeated efforts to get to the bottom of the documented election irregularities found at the Supreme Court recount, I discovered we’re living through a corruption so deep and wide at every level of government, one might think there is no way out.
However, I believe this is the very catalyst Americans need to finally turn off the TV and become more directly involved in a robust and vigorous participation in their own self-governance. In fact, I believe we have no other choice than to take action or we will lose this great state into the slavery experienced today in China and so many other parts of the world.
I hope this work can help people understand how we got here, provide overall context to connect the dots, and share what others in Wisconsin are doing to stand up to protect our state. My hope is to help move us beyond the shock and awe of fascism to educate our friends and neighbors, suggest clear steps to protect our rights and restore justice, and then inspire people to take action.
Occupy DC, October 2011. Wisconsin was welcomed as a leader in the movement.
Since starting this book in July 2011, the Occupy Wall Street movement rose up all across the world as nonviolent resistance manifesting in the hearts of people everywhere exhausted from not being heard. Occupy is the voice of the ordinary people demanding an end to the lies that lead us into perpetual war and who are willing to find new ways to facilitate social, economic, political and environmental justice. Wisconsin has often been cited as the “Mother of the Occupy Movement” because of the occupation of the capitol in Madison week after week in the dead of winter. Hope rises seeing ordinary people, members of what are now called the 99%, standing up to protect their rights.
But in order to build a more perfection union, if there were one issue all people could rally around, I am convinced it’s election reform. Fair and transparent elections are ground zero, but we cannot do this unless every American citizen stands up and takes action to protect their vote … but we must start now.
I believe that the citizen movement that arose in Wisconsin during that messy, irreconcilable Supreme Court recount is America’s last great hope: Election Protection. Birthed in the 1970s—when James and Kenneth Collier discovered corrupted vote counts from Miami-Dade County machines in the Florida state congressional race—and since carried on through the decades by brave activists all over the country, election protection is the one hope we have to change the course of the corporate takeover of our country.
Another view of the touch screen poll tape from Penaukee dated March 30, 2011 1:40 AM for an election that took place April 5, 2011. Did all the clerks sign on that date and at that time? Were they asked to sign afterward since, according to the voting machine vendor who services these kinds of machines, there is no feasible way this happened because of the batteries in the machines going bad? First, the machines are plug ins, and the batteries are only used in case of emergency loss of power. Second, if the battery does begin to run down, a large yellow strip flashes across the bottom of the screen warning clerks to call the vendor to come and recharge. Also, tests are made with a different programmed pac that would have PLAT TEST across the top, not OFFICIAL BALLOT. So when was this tape printed and whose votes are they?
To this end, our new rallying cry must become, “Hand Count Paper Ballots! Nothing less will do!” Desperately needed now are good citizens educating themselves and then lifting their voices to speak the truth and demand change.
No system can survive an infrastructure built on falsehoods, constructed to support the few at the expense of the many. Repeating lies that claim otherwise won’t make them true. Here in Wisconsin, our deep and unshakable traditions go back generations—we instinctively create systems that serve the greater good to benefit all. It’s why we’re such an extraordinary state and why, I believe, we were given this place in history. It’s also why the fraud and deceit have been outed so easily: By our nature, Wisconsinites play fair and work together. Scott Walker and the state Republicans, using bullying, fear and lies, are standing out like Bear fans at Lambeau. Thanks to our inbred sense of peace and justice, and glorious history of leading national reform, Wisconsin stands ready for the task of exposing these traitors once and for all, and holding them accountable for their crimes.
Wisconsin is also intuitively constructive. There is no lack of creative vision on how to restructure government to protect our rights. If anyone can build new, regenerative community-sustaining systems inclusive of all in our society, but especially of the environment and those in need, it’s Wisconsin.
In August 2011, after months of being assaulted from all sides by election, legislative, media and judicial fraud, I filed a complaint with the US Department of Justice. Since election fraud was just a piece of the puzzle, I asked the Department of Justice to consider my rationale for RICO: the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, the only legal action that could encompass the entire scope of the long-term assault we are under.
The hubris and propaganda of the Defendants are becoming their undoing. We the People must be ready to build a new foundation based on what is best for the good of all. Once again, Wisconsin stands poised to be called to service as an American reformer.
To the citizens of Wisconsin, I say: This is not about left or right; it’s about right and wrong. It’s about participation in justice. If you do not act to help bring election reform, you will allow them to steal your vote. Then you become complicit. What will it take to get you to take action?
To the corporate vote-buyers, I say: Sorry, you picked the wrong state to mess with. The corporatocracy’s rape and robbery of this country ends here in Wisconsin. And if anyone can stop the collusion of these big money-humping miners, corporate lackeys, patsy politicians, phat-cat lobbyists and other arrogant high-ranking offenders and set these yahoos back on their well-oiled heels—it’s us.
On Wisconsin, long may we stand.
NEXT INSTALLMENT #2: How We Got Here
You can advance order a copy of STEAL THIS BOOK NOT MY VOTE at www.barbarawith.com
Wisconsin Citizens Media Cooperative 
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