James ” Wiggy” Wigderson, aka Sqwiggy, is over at his blog telling us all, ( or those few of us who occasionally read it) that over 25% of the signatures gathered in Ohio to repeal Senate Bill 5 were fraudulent. He goes on to speculate that up to 33% of the signatures gathered to recall Walker might be rejected, but then concedes that even a one in three rejection rate would still trigger a recall election. But here’s what Wiggy didn’t tell us.
The vast majority of the roughly 350,000 signatures rejected by the Ohio Secretary of State were not found to be fraudulent, but rather, invalid, which is a very important distinction. Why were those signatures deemed invalid? Because Ohio election law requires registered voters to sign petitions in their county of residence. It seems likely that in their enthusiasm to repeal Governor Kasich’ union busting bill some folks were not entirely clear on the specifics of Ohio election law, and so many people who were not registered voters may have signed the petitions, and many may have signed at rallies otuside of their home county.
Why does this matter? Because Wisconsin has no statute requiring eligible electors, ( anyone eligible to vote in Wisconsin) to sign petitions in their county of residence, so there’s absolutely no reason to believe that anywhere remotely close to 33% of the signatures we gathered are invalid, or duplicate, and certainly not fraudulent. No reason to believe it unless, of course, you’re a smear-mongering kook.
So, Wiggy, here’s a little homework assignment for you. Call the Ohio Secretary of State and find out how many signatures were rejected because they were actually fraudulent, and then get back to us. The telephone number is 614-466-2655.
Go ahead, give’m a call. I’m sure they can help you clear your head.
Then again, maybe not.
Wiggy has not been having a good year. I wonder if the more untrue his posts are the more money macgyver pays.
Did you know that all Craiglist ads should be assumed to be true in the most important respects? If you’re a 40-something conservative guy looking for a teenage male, and his ad says he’s 19, you can safely assume it’s true and feel free to send him a picture of your dinger, says Wigderson.
Sometimes Wiggy is really, really wrong.