Charlie Sykes: Sykes Writes

Lena Taylor's Ties to Potential Vote Fraud

By Charlie Sykes CREATED Nov. 23, 2011

• RSS Feed

• Tweet
• (10) | COMMENTS
• Share
• Email
• Print

Brian Sikma from Media Trackers summarizes the story so far...

1) Sen. Lena Taylor owns a home at 1018 N. 35th St. in Milwaukee, which is immediately behind her law office. This property was used by a non-profit organization that enabled 36 voters to register to vote from that address.

2) The property is only zoned for up to 8 residents (RT3) in a group-home type setting, which is how the non-profit used the home. This conflicts with the 36 individuals registered to vote from the home.

3) The non-profit (Mama Delta's Love House) was owned by Sen. Lena Taylor's mother, Lena J. Taylor, and was disbanded shortly before the April 5, 2011 election for ongoing failure to comply with state laws.

4) On April 5, 2011, 20 of the 36 voters registered at the 35th St. address voted, and a total of 7 same day voter registrations (the same type of registrations used in the SEIU activists' case in Glendale) were corroborated by Lena J. Taylor.

5) Lena J. Taylor incorrectly identified herself on the voter registration forms as the owner of the property listed as the address of the 7 new voters. Her daughter, Sen. Lena C. Taylor, owns that property.

6) Among those who registered to vote April 5 and were inaccurately corroborated by Lena J. Taylor is Russell Collins, who was ineligible to vote due to a felony he earned in late 2010. His registration and vote violated state law.

7) Another 5 individuals who are registered to vote from the address have their legal address in various court documents listed as something other than their voting address.

8) Because of the vast discrepancies between the listed voting address and the address used in other court documents, the question must be asked, are these voters voting from this address or are these "straw men registrations" used by anyone who chooses to vote from that address?

9) Sen. Lena Taylor wants to recall Gov. Scott Walker for what she believes is his misuse of power, but in this case she has been an accessory to illegal voting activities. This appears to be somewhat hypocritical and disingenuous.

10) Sen. Lena Taylor was an outspoken critic of the Photo ID bill, but if that bill had been in place it could stopped some of the potential voter fraud that took place from her property. Is this what democracy looks like?

11) Sen. Lena Taylor re-introduced legislation last week to extend the right to vote to felons and other convicts the moment they leave jail. But instead of waiting to change the law, Lena Taylor appears to have been an accessory to at least one voter breaking current election law as it relates to felon voting.

The scope of this scheme indicates that Senator Lena Taylor and her mother need to be asked very serious questions about how the property was used, and how it came to be that 36 voters, some felons still on extended supervision, and others who appear to possibly be from out of state, were registered to vote at the address. There is simply far too much detail present in this story for it be a simple mistake. At best this is gross negligence that undermines the integrity of the election process, at worst it is an offense against the state of Wisconsin.