From the Associated Press
 
 Wisconsin Republicans say 2004 voter fraud crossed state lines 
JULIET WILLIAMS 
Associated Press Writer 
 8/10/05
MILWAUKEE — The state Republican Party said Tuesday that it has documented nine more cases of double-voting in Milwaukee's growing voter fraud scandal stemming from the 2004 presidential election. 
 
At a news conference outside a home he said was one of the addresses used to vote twice, state party chairman Rick Graber said investigators used U.S. Postal Service change-of-address records to trace nine names of people who voted in Milwaukee, then voted again in either Chicago, Minneapolis or Madison. 
 
"We now are able to make this link to show that this voter fraud has crossed state lines," said Rep. Jeff Stone, R-Glendale, who also attended the news conference. 
 
Gayle Schenk, 53, who lives at the downtown home where the press conference was held, denied the allegations, which she thought were about her son, a 26-year-old who moved to Chicago last fall. 
 
"He's a political science major. He knows you can't vote twice. It's absolutely ridiculous," she said. 
 
Party officials declined to release the addresses or names of the other alleged double-voters, saying they had turned the information over to the U.S. Attorney's office, which is already investigating voter fraud in Milwaukee along with the FBI, Milwaukee police and the Milwaukee County district attorney. 
 
Francie Wendelborn, a spokeswoman in the office of U.S. Attorney Steven Biskupic, said investigators had not yet seen the Republican report and could not comment Tuesday. 
 
The voter fraud task force has said there were 4,600 more ballots cast than registered voters in the city during the 2004 presidential race, along with hundreds of votes cast by felons and people using fake names and addresses. Nine people have been charged so far, but prosecutors said they have found no widespread evidence of a conspiracy. 
 
No one answered the door at the downtown home where the press conference was held Tuesday. A 'for sale' sign hung in the yard. 
 
Republican state legislators used their report to renew their push for a law that would force Wisconsin voters to show government-issued photo identification at the polls. Republicans have twice sent such a bill to Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle, but he has vetoed it both times. 
 
Stone and state Sen. Joe Leibham, R-Sheboygan, said they would resubmit the voter ID proposal to Doyle Tuesday. 
 
But Graber acknowledged that an ID requirement might not have prevented the double-voting. 
 
"We've never said voter ID is a cure-all. It is a common sense first step," Graber said. 
 
Federal law already requires states to notify each other when new voters register so they can be removed from registration lists with their old address. The state Elections Board received 3,498 such notices between Oct. 20 and Nov. 19 of last year. 
 
Wisconsin sends those notices to local municipalities, which are then responsible for striking voters from their rolls. But the state will be able to do that itself starting next year, because of a federal law requiring each state to have a centralized voter list. 
 
Elections Board Executive Director Kevin Kennedy said the list also will allow the state to investigate allegations of people voting in more than one state. Still, he said Wisconsin won't have the resources to compare its list of 4 million voters against states like Illinois, which has 15 million registered voters. 
 
Kennedy said prosecuting those who break voting laws is the best deterrent. 
 
Doyle spokesman Dan Leistikow said the governor would only sign voter ID legislation if it allowed voters to show other identification if they did not have the required picture ID or driver's license. The latest GOP plan offers no such alternatives for most voters. 
 
Leistikow said the bill would do nothing to address people voting in more than one state and complained Republicans have refused to work out a compromise with the governor. 
 
Stone said his party would continue fighting for a voter ID measure, even if Doyle vetoes it again. If necessary, he said they would take it to a statewide vote to amend the Wisconsin constitution, which he said would be a last resort. 
 
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