Republicans’ 'targeted operations' seek to deter 'strong student' voter turnout: report

28 November 2023

Ex-Wisconsin Republican Governor Scott Walker claimed when he lost reelection last year that "young people are the issue."

According to a Tuesday, November 28 exclusive Rolling Stone report, the state's majority Republican legislature "has seized every opportunity to try and block students from voting.

Wisconsin Assembly Democrats Executive Director Morgan Hess told the publication, "We've seen really strong student engagement in our last couple of elections. And suddenly, we're seeing new legislation that would prohibit student's ability to vote."

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Per the report, she highlighted "GOP efforts over the past several years to make it harder to register, eliminate drop boxes, shorten early voting, increase residency requirements, and reduce polling locations — mostly in Madison and Milwaukee," saying, "These are very targeted operations that serve to further entrench the power that they already have."

The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee National Communications Director Abhi Rahman said, "Young people are the reason why [President Joe] Biden won in 2020 and Democrats up and down the ballot won in 2022 and 2023. If Gen-Z continues to vote, we're on the cusp of the most progressive era in our country's history. Republicans know this as well and that's why they're doing everything they can to stop young people from voting, including the fight for restrictions that we're seeing play out in states like Wisconsin today."jj

Rolling Stone notes that this is "all part of a concerted strategy advanced by GOP operatives like Cleta Mitchell — one of the central figures behind Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election."

Earlier this year, during a Republican gathering in Nashville, Mitchell encouraged fellow GOPers to "limit voting on college campuses, same-day voter registration and automatic mailing of ballots to registered voters."

In audio obtained by The Washington Post from the former Trump attorney's speech, she said, "when Republicans win the state Senate in Virginia, they can eliminate 45 days of early voting and same day voter registration." However, on Election Day earlier this month, Virginia Republicans failed to prevail.

Rolling Stone's full report is here (subscription required).

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