Right wing desperate to win 2010 midterms at any cost: They'll even break the law!

Progressives in Wisconsin announced this morning that they have uncovered an alarming plot by the right wing to dishonestly and illegally influence elections by suppressing votes. The scheme involves Wisconsin Republican Party, Americans for Prosperity, and tea party groups, who are jointly planning to disenfranchise voters who they think will vote Democratic.

The tactic — which is illegal — is called voter caging:

Voter caging is a notorious voter suppression technique used to challenge the registration status of eligible voters to prevent him or her from voting in an election

Usually, caging occurs when an official-looking, non-forwardable piece of mail is sent to a group of registered voters, often to minorities and students. The parties involved in caging then compile a list of voters whose mail was returned as undeliverable. On Election Day, these organizations will use the undeliverable mail to challenge voters at the polls, utilizing law enforcement and attorneys to support their challenges.

The goal of caging is two-fold. First, is to force as many voters as possible to cast provisional ballots, which require voters to follow-up the day after an election for the ballot to be counted. Historically, about 35% of all provisional ballots are never counted. Additionally, voters whose registration is challenged at the polling place are unlikely to have the required material to complete an Election Day registration, meaning the voter will be turned away at the polls.

The second goal is to create long lines at the polling place as the caging operation challenges voter after voter. Many people cannot afford to sit in line to vote for hours on end. Long lines discourage voters and many simply leave without casting a ballot.

Voter caging is a violation of the Help America Vote Act and is illegal.

Available for download at SaveWisconcinsVote2010.org are a copy of the plans and a transcript of a tea party meeting where the plans were discussed in greater detail, along with the audio from that meeting.

One Wisconsin Now, a ProgressNow state affiliate, has asked law enforcement to initiate an investigation into the activities of the aforementioned groups, to determine whether they've already broken the law and to stop their nefarious, undemocratic scheme from going any further.

We'll keep you apprised of any updates about this plot.