Spencer Coggs Supports Cleaning up Poll Lists

I wonder if he's thought this through. Because I think his idea only reinforces the fact that the poll list situation in Wisconsin is a farce. (Which is a huge part of the argument in favor of requiring voters to prove who they are on election day).

State Sen. Spencer Coggs (D-Milwaukee) has offered a bill that would require court officials to include voter lists in jury databases to increase the number of African-Americans and minorities available for jury duty.

The move comes after an all-white jury acquitted three white former police officers charged in the 2004 beating of Frank Jude Jr., who is biracial.

"The Jude trial has shaken the public's confidence in our justice system," Coggs said. "This will help restore a measure of confidence and insure that citizens can more fully expect a real jury of their peers."

Regardless of the fact that Coggs views peers solely on racial lines, if the poll lists weren't such a damn mess, I wouldn't oppose this proposal.

The City of Milwaukee has dropped about 105,000 names from its voter rolls after completing the first purge since 2001, city officials said Tuesday.

That represents about 23% of the 450,000 names that had been on the rolls.

Officials had said they were unsure if a purge of the rolls had been conducted after the 2000 election.

Coggs believes the jury system is tilted against the African-American community and uses the Jude case to prove his assertion.

Regardless of his faulty logic, ironically, Coggs bill may not even solve the 'problem' he's trying to address.

Milwaukee County Clerk of Court John Barrett, whose office is responsible for summoning potential jurors and for the management of court personnel, said the proposed legislation may not increase minority representation on juries. "The percentages might parallel the percentages of the state Department of Transportation records," Barrett said. "If you take the county, you are adding the 18 suburbs. That doesn't necessarily increase minority percentages."

Under Cogg's bill, Milwaukee and Racine counties would be required to include voter registration lists in the database for jury selection starting in July of next year. The director of state courts would then compare and report to the legislature the composition of juries for the first six months of 2007 under the current system, and from the last six months after the changes, according to the bill.

Just weeks ago, 23 percent of the city's poll list was garbage. Imagine how many jury summons they'd have to issue to get enough candidates to show up.

If the poll lists are cleaned up, I support this bill.

Not because I think the Jude verdict was racially motivated, but because I favor expanding the jury pool. Why should drivers have all the fun?