Walker seeks federal disaster aid for northern Wisconsin flood damage

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Gov. Scott Walker is seeking two types of federal disaster aid to help parts of northwest Wisconsin that flooded in mid-June.

Walker asked the Federal Emergency Management Agency on Thursday to help UW-Superior and local governments in three counties cover the cost of flood damage to public facilities. He also asked the Small Business Administration to help Douglas County homes and businesses.

If the FEMA request is approved, officials in Douglas, Bayfield and Ashland counties could get up to 75 percent federal aid to fix things like roads that were flooded out. The same is true for the Red Cliff Indian reservation north of Bayfield.

UW-Superior had flood damage in 14 campus buildings, including the library and power plant.

Walker said he’s seeking the SBA disaster aid because there wasn’t enough damage for FEMA to help home and business owners. Just over two dozen homes and businesses in Douglas County had significant damage. More than 40 percent of the losses were not covered by insurance.

Northwest Wisconsin was pounded by over six inches of rain on June 19-20. Nearby Duluth, Minn., had 10 inches and a lot more damage.

FEMA rejected disaster aid for those homes and businesses as well. Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton is appealing that rejection.

More poll workers needed

Wisconsin will need more and better-trained poll workers this fall, or else many registered voters will find it hard to cast ballots, according to a pair of reports being issued by the League of Women Voters and a coalition of unions and civil rights groups called Wisconsin Election Protection.

Those groups had 150 observers at polling places during the June 5 recall elections. The Election Protection group said voters were turned away and many waited in long lines, mainly due to confusion over Election Day registration requirements and the new law that makes people live at their current addresses for 28 straight days.

Both reports said college students were turned away because they didn’t have the required residency documents. Unlike previous years, their parents could not vouch for their children’s validity.

Republicans took that ability away during the last legislative session. Both the League of Women Voters and the Election Protection group say it should be brought back.

Some of the problems listed in the new reports were the same ones identified by Republicans in the state Senate election in Racine County where a recount took place. But unlike the GOP, the groups which put out the new reports do not say that voter fraud might have been committed.

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