Feingold Presses Importance Of Early Voting, Criticizes ID Requirements

With early voting underway throughout Wisconsin ahead of the Nov. 8 election. U.S. Senate candidate Russ Feingold told Democratic supporters Monday that Republicans like incumbent Sen. Ron Johnson are trying to limit their votes.

Feingold went to a Democratic Party campaign office in Milwaukee and complained to a racially mixed crowd that Johnson and Gov. Scott Walker want to curtail early voting and criticized their support of required photo IDs at polling places.

“They’ve directly attacked the right to vote, the most sacred right,” Feingold said. “The right that was the hardest struggle in this nation’s history after the brutal discrimination against African-Americans in the South of this country.”

But Johnson said he and Walker are not trying to deter voting.

“Listen, I agree with Gov. Walker,” Johnson said. “We want to make voting easy, but we also want to make sure no fraudulent vote cancels out a legitimate vote.”

Republicans and Democrats are promoting early voting, which started nearly a month ago in Wisconsin’s largest cities.