When poll workers asked Alabama GOP Chairman John Wahl for his voter ID, he gave them a card they'd never seen before, ostensibly from the State Auditor's office identifying him as a press secretary. When challenged at the polls, Wahl texted this photo to the Limestone County Probate court. The Alabama Finance Department says it has no record of Wahl working for the state and it never issued him an employee ID badge.
And some members of the state Republican Party chairman’s family have been disenfranchised for lack of photo ID.Limestone County, along the Tennessee line just west of Huntsville, stands out in Alabama politics for being one of the last to transition from a Democratic stronghold to a Republican one. Several latecomers to the new Republican majority there have been treated with partisan skepticism or kicked off ballots for not being Republican enough.
“Members of this community have been subjected to ridicule and called names like ‘the goat people’ just because they live a different lifestyle,” Wahl says, referring to a Facebook comment he shared with me. Those records show that in recent years more than $400,000 of political money has flowed to the business, mostly for advertising buys, polling and political consulting. In some campaign reports, the Wahl family’s address appears as the address of the Limestone County Republican Party itself.Benjamin Harrison, a former county commissioner and current Republican nominee for Alabama House District 2, works for the company, according to Harrison’s disclosures with the Alabama Ethics Commission.
But not everyone in his family feels comfortable being photographed, he says. For them, it’s a religious objection.“Amish, Mennonites, and other Anabaptists are well known for their concerns about pictures or the way pictures are used,” Wahl said. “They are definitely not normal in our modern culture, but they shouldn’t be attacked or discriminated against for choosing a different lifestyle.”
According to state voter records, eight of the Wahl family members living on their farm are registered to vote. Martin says he knows some of the Wahls but not all of them, and he wasn’t comfortable swearing an affidavit that he could “positively identify” them all as registered voters, as required under the law before signing an affidavit.
A public records request to the Limestone County Probate Court returned a photograph of the badge Wahl had texted to the probate judge during one of the disputes with poll workers. The badge has Wahl’s photograph and name, and it features a copy of the State Seal.
WarOnDumb MarkMeadowsFlipped
WarOnDumb Every Republican accusation is an admission.
WarOnDumb This is very fishy.
WarOnDumb Classic display of Republican double values. There's the rules they expect you and I to live by and then there's the rules they are willing to live by. Feuds and vendettas are just sauce on the side of this plate. ALpolitics
WarOnDumb ChairmanWahl give the man his job back,you and family show your ID you're no different than the rest even if you think you are, you're no better than the leftist elite who have rules for thee and not for me
WarOnDumb I thought GOP was for voter IDs?
WarOnDumb You framed that right…”GOP” the entitlement of these ppl
WarOnDumb Absolutely ridiculous that the state GOP chairman of Alabama is being allowed to vote without proper ID and is removing poll workers that disagree with him. voxdotcom this needs some national attention.
WarOnDumb Hypocritical + Bama L