Walker can't win in Wisconsin without cheating

Today is the Wisconsin recall vote. The social nets are reporting record turnouts since early this morning. The Democratic voters in my world are out in force, working hard to prove the polls showing Walker with a lead wrong. However, the ground game isn't the only factor in this race. Democrats also have to overcome the now predictable Republican dirty tricks:

Some voters say they've received calls telling them they don't need to vote if they signed the recall petition — With both sides counting on dramatic turnout, Tom Barrett's campaign is charging Scott Walker supporters with dirty tricks.

And by some voters, they mean a fairly large number have already publically reported receiving them, though no recording of the call has yet surfaced. This on top of last week's sabotage of Barrett's campaign where a blast spam cell phone text went out to the voters and ended up jamming up the phone lines at Barrett's headquarters.

But the big gun voter fraud is the legislation already enacted by the Republican statehouse designed to disenfranchise the student voters. A residency requirement buried in what survived of that bill will likely rob Barrett of a victory:

Therefore, any student at these schools who registered to vote at school but is now home for the summer will not be permitted to update their registration at their parents’ house because they will have been home for less than 28 days. Under the old law, a student not on campus for the summer would have been permitted to update her registration at the polls and vote because she will have been home (or elsewhere off-campus) for more than 10 days.

As a result, thousands of Wisconsin students will likely be barred from taking part in today’s recall vote.

Wisconsin Secretary of State Doug LaFollette worried about the impact it could have on turnout. “It will really have a negative impact among college students,” LaFollette told ThinkProgress.

Meanwhile, for more immediate news, Charlie Pierce is reporting from the ground in Wisconsin and will be updating throughout the day.

Addendum: And so it begins. Reports of students being barred from voting are already coming in. Walker may well "win" this thing, but it will only be because he cheated. [More posts daily at the Detroit News.]