The United States
Supreme
Court throws a
curveball absentee
voting, letting
the Trump administration
move forward
with more restrictive
rules. Wisconsin election
officials say
we're a long
ways from
November, there
will be more
lawsuits. This
is in politics.n
I'm Zac
Schultz filling in
for Shawn Johnson here with
my colleagues
, Anya van Richndonk and
Kremer Eau
Claire. Hello to
both of you. Hey.
On thenday,
U.S. Supreme
Court's shadow
docket struck
again, releasing an
unsigned opinion
that allows the
Trump administration
to go forward
with orders for the
Postal Service
to create
rules restricting who
can and
absentee ballot
through the mail.
Ana. This
started as an executive
order last
spring. Wisconsin was one of
the Soo stop it.sued
where are we now? >> I mean, we're
still in So this was the
court did not rule of thert
merits of the They ruledmselves.
on the timing
of the
lawsuit that and othern
states filed,
essentially saying that because the Postal
Service rule has
not yet been put
in place, they can't that they have
been harmed. Servicele, the
did author
and publish
the rule that
would go into
effect as the order
is cleared. sond
now things go back lower court
than they will back to the Supreme
Court, which will ,
we assume, kind weigh in on whether
the executive
branch, the president, is
allowed to make such a
kind sweeping change to
state elections,
which are,
according to the Constitution,
sort of supposed to
be decided by
the states.
>> So nothing
happening this
exact moment. But
everyone should be a
little bit worried and aware
of on. Yeah. I mean,
we're ten weeks out the midterm elections.
And we'rethings that
hearing from election rsministrato
is sort of, what are we supposed
to be doing in They arentime?
in the process of printing out these ballots,
ballots that go to and military voters
need to out 45 days in
advance of the election. that's like, I
think stuff needs9th. So
to be happening, administrative stuff
. meanwhile, they're trying
to figure out just the rules
function. interestingublicans
relationship with
absentee balloting
going back
years they've talked
about restricting
it, but they
also love
to use it, including
Republican nominee Tom
Tiffany. >> And
President Donald
Trump. I believe
it was reported,
used it this
year well.
So it's an
interesting paradox.
So going
back to 2020,
President Donald Trump has
made these
false
claims about
widespread voter
fraud that
resulted in a
stolen election.
But part of that,
of course, was
his railing
against mail
in absentee
voting. And he
said it's just a
prime opportunity
for fraud to
happen. So
many of his
supporters have
bought into
that. And
here Wisconsin, we've
got paradox
where gotu've
the state
party chair,
Bryan Schimming, the
GOP party
chair, who
he said,
well, I was one
of the first
state party
chairs in the
country to
advocate for
absentee voting
and early voting as
a way to kind of
match Democrats who
have really
successful with that. In
terms of out theg
vote early ahead
of Election
Day, less work
on Election
Day. At the same
time, you've got
people within the
party that want
to impeach
the state's
election top
election official
Megan Wolf,
they've they've went
after Republican
speaker, outgoing
Republican Speaker
of the Assembly,
Robin fors,
not trying
to decertify
the election,
etc. So it's
really kind
of a
paradox between
those two
worlds in the
Wisconsin GOP. >> So
anyway, what
are clerks
doing right now?
I guess, in
Wisconsin history, ot've had a l
of lawsuits election,fore an
but usually those involve
state law. This
would be
seemingly a much
larger change
than one theyt
really wouldn't
have any
impact on.
>> Yeah. Well, also is unique
because it sort
of the most federated
election administration
system in So a lotry.
of other places, you know,
it's county clerks who
run administration
who administer
elections. itere
is local
clerks, and
I'm blanking
on the exact
number, but it
is close to
200. And
so they are
all, again,
doing this kind
of nitty gritty
work of printing out the
ballots and checking their lists.
And there's all of work that
goes behindnd of
the scenes to clerkthis. Every
I've spoken to says that like as soon
as one beginsext one,
for them in terms their work. And
so the all gettingy're
ready for the And so as these
rules kind of shift they're waiting
again for and forth from the
courts, it really kind raises the question
of what followo they
the rules if they don't yet know what
the for something like
this, being in charge
of is allowed to receiveng who
a anding ballot
who is not,
they could
accidentally violate
that ife
they're not very,
very they'rel. And so
kind of waiting to see. So we are
just kind of this wait and see
moment need to be, they
kind of hurrying just to get stuff
like Again, this verye
administrative details that really
kind of determines we all
vote. >>
And there have been concerns about how the
Postal Service will handle
absentee ballots,
especially under the
Trump administration, are
both two
separate Trump administrations. There have
been questions and
conspiracies about whether
the Postal
Service will lose
the ballots, they'llr
be processing them
on time, or are there
enough postal workers to handle all of these
routes. And
so I
know that the
parties in the
past have told their
voters, hey, if
you're worried,
make sure
you deliver it
in person.
Rich, have we
seen any of
these groups, whether the
Democrats or Republicans
trying to
make sure their
voters are aware, even
if these don't happen, like, hey, maybe it's
safest to hand deliver these, or maybe you
do persone in
if you can.
>> Yeah. And also
some of clerks.
So the Wisconsin Elections
on surveyed
local clerks
this year, I
believe. And
anyway, the results
came out this
year. And
a lot
of them, the majority
of them did
mention hasere
been longer
than expected
delays with regard
to absentee
voting. This
was in the
April Supreme
Court election,
but so
some them
in the
summary of the
survey responses
from clerks have
said that
people are just
saying, well,
I. I won't
even tory
absentee vote.
I'll go a
different route.
And some
of the
clerks were
also advising
that they consider in-person
absentee voting
or other
forms, which
is really
something. And, you
know, chance a
to ask Republican
congressman and forndidate
governor, Tom
Tiffany, about
this specific
executive order from
the president and what
he thought about
it. He
deflected and
kind of went
along the lines
of saying,
most clerks do a
great job. But he
said some,
without naming
them, have
gone beyond
what the color
of the law
dictates. So
without naming
them, we
can assume that it
might be
Dane County
and Milwaukee
County that
he has
an issue with,
because we've heard
that from other
Republicans. So
it's just
a really
interesting situation.
And and
we are
we're theght on
cusp of this
election. this
uncertainty definitely
has got a
lot of eyebrows
raised. >> So this
has happened in the
last, oriously, day
so. How
much can this
change the conversation in the
gubernatorial Because for
the past few
weeks havece the candidates
been set, it's been
about data centers, and
that's been the driving
force of Tiffany
attacking David
Crowley and
Crowley defend and
put back in
his candidacy.
But this
change the
topic and
bring up those
connections Tom Tiffany has
to Donald Trump, or
the tct
hat these almost
all come out of
election conspiracies from
2020? this
be an
opening change
the narrative of
what people are talking
about? >> To
Rich's point? know, I think
one of the consequences
of something like this
isn't just it'st
confusing for election
officials, but that it
can kind of
sow confusion and
doubt among
voters. And
so for
voters who are alreadyf
concerned about
American democracy, who do tend to skew
democratic, this is
kind of part of
that pattern
for voters who
maybe have
questions theout
2020 election, or are
Trump supporters much like
Tom Tiffany,
right, who was
somebody who
voted to
decertify 2020 election
results in certain other
states? This
is just kind
of an
example of of the
chaos that they say is
just kind of baked into
the givesind of so
them an ifpportunity
things don't goecessarily
their way in November
to to the
shifting rules,
the back and
forth, the courts,
the judges
as a reason
for that.
And so the
very least, you know, even if it does
kind of allows that
administrators to, to
do their job
sort of
without a hitch,
it still
creates this sense
of chaos
in the kind
of basis of our
democracy which is
voting. >> So,
yeah. So youch, do
think Republicans
want change
the here, oration
is this
strictly Democrats would
love to be able to pin
this back, and causes confusion
say, this is what get with Tom,
Tiffany and >> Yeah.rump?
It seems like
Democrats are much
more eager
to talk about
this sort of
thing than Republicans.
When Tom
Tiffany has been
asked hist
2020 votes and
his signing on to
a lawsuit
that year
that have
tossed out
Wisconsin's votes in
the presidential
election, just
defers like he'll
quickly say, Joe
Biden is president, and then he
moves on. So
based on that,
and also
based on some
Republican commentary
I've from people
in Wisconsin,
they definitely
don't want
Tom Tiffany
talking about
this. They don't
necessarily want
him talking
about issues that
President Trump
is thathing
are unpopular.
But you can rest
assured that
Democrats are
very excited
to talk about this
development from the
Supreme Court,
the president's
attempts, his plans,
etc. because we got
a press release first
thing it. morning about
>> So another
topic that
could come up
in the governor's race that we're
paying attention to.
Governor Evers,
commutation Advisory
Board, met for first time
last hear ato
dozen from a dozen
inmates who have applied have their sentences
reduced. Ana what do
we thisabout
board? And then
how will that
filter out
into Tom Tiffany
versus David
Crowley? Why would it
have anything to do them?
So it's the first time that this board
has under Republican
Governor Tommy
Thompson. And
so hasis
been sort of a
priority of
Governor Evers
is to
make some
changes to
criminal justice in
Wisconsin. He has
not delivered
on many of
those. But this was kind
of one of final
acts in office,
is to
potentially theduce
sentence of
grant commutations
to some
incarcerated people. And
so this
is a big deal,
in part because crime
is just
always an
issue in any
election. I mean,
we've Court Supreme
races where don't
really have
any, know,
role in
fighting crime.
But crime is just
something that motivates
voters. And so
this ofssue
potentially, you know,
lessening the sentence of
people, some of
whom convicted
for nonviolent
crimes, some of whom
were violentd for
crimes, according
to a
series of kind of criteria,
including they've
served a majority of their
sentence, they've
proven that they've
sort of rehabilitated
in ways. But
all of that can
be the type of thing that
Republicans in particular, who
like to say
Democrats are kind
of easy
on crime,
can really seize
upon. And, you know,
I'm Massachusetts.
And so
I grew up
learning about
sort of the Willie
Horton case,
which was
a whorson
was released from
prison, went
on to commit another
very violent
crime. then
this swung the
governor's election
in a little bit
before my But I grew
up learning And that is the
kind of thing that really sink elections.
And as this is
going forward, you know,
it is
popular among
voters of many different
stripes to some
sort of criminal
justice reform.
But youen
kind of look at
what looksctually
like, it
can be
a bit of a
tightrope walk for politicians.
ting bring up Willie
Horton Democraticat came
primary in It988.
was al Gore
versus Dukakis,
and then it
ended playing a
major role in inresidential campaign
88, where it
was Lee
Atwater, who
Atwater, who one of the first
negative ad gurus out
there, ran it
against Dukakis. And
it was thensidered one of
things that showed in him and
why went from high
approval election inlosing
1988. And,
Rich, obviously, this is
that Republicans have a
history of atooking
as crime in Milwaukee,
and especially people
of color.
We've already
started to see those of
connections. trying to draw
between andd Crowley
any bad thing that
happens in Milwaukee
County. It's little
bit of like throwing spaghetti at the wall.
See this isutks right
definitely against him, evenll
if it's of links.t
>> Yeah. That's
right. This something that has
proven to
be able to
stick in the
past. I mean, I
think back to
2022, the US
Senate race
between Republican
incumbent and now
Senator Ron
Johnson and
former lieutenant
Governor Mandela
Barnes. That
race, the
Republicans supporting
Johnson and Johnson
himself just
blanketed the Wisconsin airwaves
with ads
about how
Barnes was,
you know,
about defunding the
police or he
was anti
ICE and he
was weak on
crime. I
mean, these sort of
things. Again,
a US
senator doesn't
have a ton to
do in the, you
know, directly
with crime
fighting. But
these are the
kind of
topics that that
stir up people's
emotions. Also, back in
2022, the Marquette
University Law School did
a survey that I
found really interesting.
It showed
that, you
know, 77%
of respondents said they
feel safe in
their daily
activities, but
85% reported
being either
somewhat concerned
or very
concerned about
increasing crime.
So that kind of
shows how the
emotions can
get in the way
of onumbers
paper. >> And
yeah, it's
interesting. The crime statistics
came out for Wisconsin showing a
decrease, as we've seen
nationally, including
in Milwaukee,
but there's
still going to be
allegations. We saw it with videos of
incidents at the
state fair.
And all of a
sudden the connection we saw was
Republicans saying, This is David
Crowley Wisconsin.
And I didn't
know that the Milwaukee
County exec was in of the state
fair and like, inure everyone stayed
line there. But this will keep coming up,
right? said,, as Rich
statistics and haved of feelings
almost withhing to do
one another. In fact, there's been research that
shows that as crime have steadily
gone down,
minus the
Covid spike, you
know, from the 90s,
coverage of
crime has
gone up
in local
media. And ito
gives the aimpression to
lot of
people. You know, I talk to people
from are convinced thatee
it's fire just 100%
of the time.
And so
if you feel that
way, it kind of doesn't matter what the
statistics say. And you really
leverage that
concern, especially
for somebody like
David Crowley,
who is
so Milwaukee,
right, het
is of Milwaukee,
he is the county
executive. The
Tom Tiffany campaign
will try
to tie him
to every
single problem that
Milwaukee has,
including crime
rates that are than elsewhere in
the state, ofs just kind
the nature of urban centers.
one last area I
want to talk about and talking about
changing race, ifernor's
we ever get away from data centers being
this primary driver, there is the of these
tariffs Andng in.
we have a
couple different
aspects of.
One is Trump
is aescalating
new trade war with
Canada. And
we're also
seeing questions
about whether he would
allow imported coming
in from South
America to come
into the market and
reducing tariffs
there. And rich
tariffs have an
interesting another
interesting aspect of Republicans
of when Trump
imposes them, that
they don't change the
cost according
to Republicans.
But when he lowers
them, cost ofthesed to
beef coming in. But what's been the reaction
to tariff war battles
going on? >> So
again, this is
something that I would
imagine Republicans
aren't excited
to talk about, but
Tom Tiffany has in
the he'st,
he's talked about
how the
president is
doing these
things,
these tariffs in
order to
reshore manufacturing
in Wisconsin,
he said. The
media doesn't talk
about the success
stories. He
mentioned something
about a
Harley-Davidson plant,
something happening with
that in
Tomahawk. So
they want to
talk about downsides
of that. did
see something I
honestly wasn't
able to
go the whole
article, but
that Tom Tiffany might
have been creating some
distance between
the president on
this latest
batch with regard
to Canada.
But again,
I'm not as
not super
well versed on
that. It's
definitely a
topic, though,
with affordability
being top concern
among voters in
general, and
Democrats are going to make
hay with it. And Anya,
in our minute here talking
about tariff
issues, I mean,
Democrats were quick
to pounce on
this, Governor
Evers saying we have a
$7 Canada. Our closest
neighbor. Like
these reale
world not justtions,
political implications.
>> Right. But sortin, it's
of it's the work
of politicians to kind of
draw those
connections and make
people understand, you
know, you go to the
grocery this came,doesn't
from X, Y, Z. just sort of
pick up your and your milk and
you likewise, then
especially kind supplyn the
chain, we get a
ton fromod
Canada, for example. I
don't see like a
sticker on this table
kind howxplaining
this be. And soto
it's easy to feel kind
of person going just
through the some of these
policies. So it's the
job of Democrats if
they to make hay
with this, as said, to make that
hay, also is
involves little bit
of complicated
explaining of sort of
geopolitical maneuvering,
which is a little
tricky like a
32nd ad, as
we've talked about.
And you have to have the money to
run those over and over to
explain perhaps
nuanced geopolitical
maneuvers ann
election. Well, that is
all the time we
have for Oury.
colleague Shawn be backwill
next week.
This has been
inside to follow uslitics. Be
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