21st Jun 2012 at 11:33 | By Brian Sikma
ELECTION FRAUD: California Union Official Voted in Wisconsin Recall
By: Brian Sikma
In March, Dan Shansky left Wisconsin for California to take a job with a union there, but that didn’t stop him from casting a ballot in the June 5th recall election. The community organizer, who lists the Milwaukee-based Community Action Now as a recent employer, was heavily involved over the past year and a half in the protest and recall movement in Wisconsin. Shansky’s Facebook comments announcing his new job and the move to California in March were greeted with congratulations by various liberal organizers employed by many of Wisconsin’s most high profile left-wing groups.
Wisconsin state law requires that before a person cast their ballot in a Wisconsin election they be a resident of the state. Specifically, residence is defined as the place “where the person’s habitation is fixed, without any present intent to move, and to which, when absent, the person intends to return.” [Wis. Stat. 6.10(1)]
Shansky’s move to California in March, nearly two months before the election, and acceptance of a job out there would almost certainly mean that he does not qualify as a Wisconsin elector and should not have cast a ballot. He no longer lives in the state and does not appear to regard his move as a mere temporary absence from Wisconsin.
A local blogger writing under the pseudonym of “Jack Straw” discovered Shansky’s possible voter fraud after Voces De La Frontera, left-wing Hispanic social action group, began helping coordinate a workers strike at Palermo’s Pizza in Milwaukee. Joe Shansky is a spokesperson for Voces De La Frontera and the relationship between the two men has not yet been confirmed.
While it is his own Facebook page comments that show his move to California, the Government Accountability Board’s Voter Public Access database proves Shansky voted in the June 5 election. The government roll shows Shansky applying for absentee ballots for both the recall’s primary and general elections. But the Milwaukee Clerk’s office only received and counted his ballot for the general election.
In March, close to the time when Shansky said he made the move to California, the Rock County District Attorney’s office filed a disorderly conduct charge against him. The case is still pending in court.
Shansky’s actions, although involving absentee voting, highlight concerns that conservatives continue to have over the security of Wisconsin’s election process. A photo identification requirement for in-person voting is currently stuck in a legal battle even though the state’s law mirrors a similar passed several years ago in Indiana and upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court. Shansky even made a passing reference to the photo ID requirement saying in a Facebook post after mailing his ballot, “Well no photo proof but absentee ballot is in the mail-Up yours Walker! (Thanks Matthew Finnell for keeping me out of jail.)”
Finnell left a responding Facebook comment with a bit of gallows humor, “Already forwarded to Media Trackers.”
Finnell works for Wisconsin Jobs Now!, an SEIU-front group that was involved in a barbecue-for-votes scandal in the summer of 2011 and is currently led by individuals under investigation by the Milwaukee District Attorney’s office for voter fraud. Media Trackers discovered, investigated and publicized both of those voter fraud situations. The group Shansky worked for, Community Action Now, has ties to Citizen Action of Wisconsin, which was also implicated in the barbecue-for-votes scandal.
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Discussion | 18 Comments
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J said
Jun 21, 2012 at 1:32 PM
It’s not surprising that the side which asserts that there is no voter fraud is simultaneously the side that is most actively engaged in voter fraud.
Robert Earle said
Jun 21, 2012 at 2:05 PM
There are lots of voters who go out of state for one reason or another but maintain a WI voting address: military, college students, people taking internships; a more specific example would be staffers of elected officials who move to Washington to work. (Is Reince Priebus breaking the law if he votes in a WI election? Is Ron Johnson?, etc etc.)
The relevant questions here are 1) ‘Is the job in CA in any way ‘temporary’?’ That is, under the statute, van he demonstrate an ‘intent to return’ to WI? 2) Has he registered to vote in CA?
If he hasn’t registered in CA, and can demonstrate such an intent to return, then he’s most likely OK, If not, then he’s in trouble.
Moose said
Jun 21, 2012 at 2:41 PM
Re- Robert Earle- Not true. In the past you had to reside in the ward 10 days before an election. I think it got upped to 28 days before. Either way, he’s screwed for both elections (primary & recall). If you move to another state, you can vote absentee in Wisconsin ONLY FOR PRESIDENTIAL eleecions and ONLY if you’re not eligible to vote in your new state or some reason. He’s screwed 15 ways to Sunday by the letter of the law. Plus he showed INTENT with his “no photo proof” remark, so he can’t even plead ignorance.
Robert Earle said
Jun 21, 2012 at 2:53 PM
Sorry, Moose, but I am correct.
I’m a poll worker and a ‘Special Registration Deputy’ (under those parts of the Walker Voter ID law that are in effect).
You have to be able to demonstrate residence at a given address for 28 days (up from 10) when you first register to vote at that address. So long as a person currently registered to vote who is ‘absent’ and intends to return to the state (even if he doesn’t specifically intend to return to that specific address), they can continue to vote using that address.
(The ‘voting only in a Presidential election’ part is for people who move from one state to another within that 28 day window. That is, if someone moved to WI on Nov 1sr, 2012, they can cast a vote for president on Nov 6, 2012 even though they have not been in WI for the minimum 28 days.)
Moose said
Jun 21, 2012 at 3:31 PM
for liberals like yourself everthing is about “intent”
Robert Earle said
Jun 21, 2012 at 3:36 PM
Well, me and the statute.
Moose said
Jun 21, 2012 at 2:48 PM
Also Pribus, Ron Johnson and people like tat maintain a permanent residence in Wisconsin. Jackass announced in Mar and April that he moved and began a full-time job in Cali
Robert Earle said
Jun 21, 2012 at 2:57 PM
Again, not true.
While it is the case that people like Pribus probably do in fact maintain a specific Wi address, they are not required to in order to maintain WI voting rights.
Take for example someone who joins the military: Is he/she required to keep paying rent on the apartment he was living in and using as his voting address when he enlisted just so he/she van continue to vote?
(The answer is ‘no, they don’t have to do that’.)
Moose said
Jun 21, 2012 at 3:42 PM
You say “for example – the military”. Special laws for military members that have nothing to do with Mr No Photo Proof
Robert Earle said
Jun 21, 2012 at 3:50 PM
The article quotes 6.10(1).
The other two parts of the statute relevant here are:
6.10(5) – A person shall not lose residence when the person leaves home and goes into another state or county, town, village or ward of this state for temporary purposes with an intent to return.
6.10(10) – If a person moves to another state with an intent to make a permanent residence there, or, if while there the person exercises the right to vote as a citizen of that state by voting, the person loses Wisconsin residence.
Moose said
Jun 21, 2012 at 4:06 PM
so you see a question about hs intent to move to cali
Ben perlick said
Jun 21, 2012 at 4:40 PM
Same goes for my former teacher Paul Hamilton. He left Wisconsin in March for a job in Maine with the MEA…. He posted on Facebook that he had sent his absentee ballot in, after he posted I called him out on it he replied ” that will be June 6th” in responds to me asking him why he was not a resident of Maine… this sorta this is apparently wide spread!
Braemar said
Jun 21, 2012 at 9:36 PM
problem is that if he never registered to vote in Calif. the reg. of voters in WI cannot prove he has no intent to return.
so as long as he is registered only there, he can say i’m temporarily in another place to find work. I’ll be back.
sad but true.
Larsen said
Oct 25, 2012 at 12:47 PM
Not quite. States such as California, Idaho, Washington, and Oregon require you to change residency to that state within 30 days of moving to that state or face a penalty unless you are military or student. You do not need to vote but the fact that he was in the state for more than 3o days makes him a California resident, hence no longer eligible to vote in Wisconsin regardless if he had registered to vote.
nvrtalk said
Jun 22, 2012 at 7:24 AM
“No photo proof” meant that GAB had said not to post photos of ballots. It was not a commentary on Photo ID.
SHANSKY, DANIEL J
Absentee Ballot Status
Election Date Election Name Ballot Type Vote Location Ballot Status Date Ballot Sent Date Ballot Returned
6/5/2012 2012 JUNE 5 RECALL ELECTION Official Via Mail Returned – Returned 05/17/2012 06/01/2012
TT said
Jun 22, 2012 at 7:58 AM
nice try
Boz said
Jun 24, 2012 at 1:34 AM
What do you get when you cross an Alinsky with a Sandusky? … A Shansky… bwaaahaahaha
putwisconsinfirst said
Jun 26, 2012 at 5:34 PM
DANIEL SHANSKY signed the recall before he moved. http://putwisconsinfirst.com/reporting/index.php?id=108376204