Felons to be warned at polls Reprinted from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, January 25, 2001. Signs informing would-be voters that felons on probation or parole are ineligible to cast ballots will be posted at all Milwaukee polling places for the Feb. 20 primary election, the city's elections chief said Thursday. The Election Commission will take other steps to publicize the state law that bars felons from voting unless they have completed their sentences, said Julietta Henry, executive director. At least 361 felons voted illegally in the Nov. 7 election in Milwaukee wards, and confusion over the law is widespread, the Journal Sentinel reported this week.
Vote fraud is a felony.
Milwaukee County District Attorney E. Michael McCann so far has charged three felons on supervision who voted in November. The latest allegation was made against a Shorewood man. Henry testified Thursday at a Common Council committee meeting on the aftermath of the November elections, which drew a record 81,000 unregistered voters to understaffed polling sites in Milwaukee. That created long lines and waits in some wards as new voters were registered. Michael Murphy questioned Henry about how to prevent illegal voting by felons.