Wisconsin State Senator Will Totally Investigate This One Homeless Dude, For Voting

Wisconsin state Sen. Tom Tiffany is very concerned about voter fraud, and so he's going to investigate exactly one voter, to see if he did fraud. Here's the skinny: Sen. Tiffany wrote a bill that would allow a mining company to explore for iron ore in the town of Anderson. A protest camp sprung up on the site of the proposed mine, and now Sen. Tiffany is Very Concerned that one of the camp's leaders, Nick Vander Puy, listed his address as "homeless" on his voter registration. So last week, Tiffany requested that the state's Department of Justice and Government Accountability Board investigate one guy's vote in an April 1 election, because Vander Puy had posted a Facebook comment about voting in Upson, Wisconsin, even as he lived at the camp in Anderson, which was eventually declared illegal by the county. So Sen. Tiffany

wants to know if Vander Puy has a permanent address and where that is. The Senator also wants to know if he voted in more than one place Tuesday, and if his lengthy illegal stay on Iron County land invalidates his vote in the Iron County Town of Anderson.

Not that Tiffany is trying to use the investigative power of the state against one opponent of a mining project or anything -- Sen. Tiffany is just concerned about the integrity of the vote, of course.

 WXPR radio explains the supposed basis for Sen. Tiffany's concerns:

Tiffany questions whether Vander Puy is a qualified resident under state statues [sic] that say the residence of a is a place [sic] where the person's habitation is fixed, without intent to move, and to which, when absent, a person intends to return. Tiffany claims Vander Puy identified himself as "homeless", but the location he is to return to is no longer permitted under Iron county ordinance

So how can this person claim to be eligible to vote there, huh? It's UNPOSSIBLE. Except that it is legal for homeless people to vote, and in a follow-up story, Vander Puy told WXPR that he'd followed all the steps necessary to legally register:

I applied to vote in Iron county. I brought in identification. I was directed by the people at the booth to go to Hurley and go to Social Services to get certified as a homeless person because I had no physical street address. But I had been living in the town of Anderson full-time since summer, so I did that, it took me seven hours...

He also added that, in response to Sen. Tiffany's investigation, he figured he'd have to run for sheriff, vote on Mars, start stuffing ballot boxes, and perhaps challenge the Attorney General to a fistfight "or at least have a lacrosse game." He also said that he "wouldn't mind personally having a World Wrestling Federation fight" with Sen. Tiffany. WXPR was careful to note that Vander Puy was being "sarcastic."

And that's where matters stand in the Great Northern Wisconsin Vote Fraud Investigation as of the weekend. No word yet on whether Fox News has sniffed out this latest outrage, or whether Tom Tiffany is just a little bit obsessive, looking at Facebook posts from one guy to try and find out whether he should vote or not. Either way, Vander Puy says that Tiffany's complaint has brought the mine protest far more publicity than it had previously gotten. Way to go, Streisand Effect! And congratulations to Wisconsin state Sen. Tom Tiffany for becoming the latest nominee for Wonkette's coveted Legislative Shitmuffin of the Year award!

[ WSAU / WXPR / Hudson Star-Observer / WXPR again]

 Follow Doktor Zoom on Twitter. He supports voting rights even for people who piss off state legislators. Especially for them.