As was previously reported, the secretary for the Wisconsin Department of Transportation recently sent out a memo instructing employees not to offer free voter IDs to those who do not ask for one.
The employee who leaked that memo has now been fired not for leaking the memo, but for emailing fellow employees and local constituents to remind them that the state legislature set aside funds to provide free voter ID.
Under the current law, the state can charge you for an ID unless you explicitly request a free ID.
State employee Chris Larsen told radio host John "Sly" Sylvester that his bosses at the Department of Safety and Professional Services (DSPS) had become upset because he sent an email to other employees Thursday to remind them that photo IDs were supposed to be available without charge. [...]
Moments after being fired, Larsen spoke to Sylvester in an interview.
"I decided that I thought it would be prudent as a fellow citizen of the state and just a decent human being in general to send out an email to all of my constituents where I work that they should be informed," Larsen recalled. "As a result, I am not apparently employed." [...]
A practice run in July found that nearly 20 percent of voters coming to the polls did not have a photo ID with them.
The best way to combat this kind of voter-suppression tactic is to educate the public, and an employee of the Wisconsin Department of Transportation has just been fired for doing exactly that.
Labor lawyers should be lining up at his doorstep.