Residents of Shorewood senior building upset after voter registration event canceled
SHOREWOOD, Wis. (CBS 58) -- A group of residents at a senior apartment complex say they're angry after building management canceled a voter registration event they were planning.
Many of the residents at River Park Apartments are seniors or disabled. That's why one woman led the charge to get some help ahead of the voter registration deadline.
"I swore that I would help anybody who needed help to vote because so many of the people that live here are the people that are most effected by the policies that are laid forth by our administration," said Beth Hengst, a resident at River Park.
Hengst got emotional after learning the voter registration event she was helping put together at her apartment complex wouldn't be happening. She, along with a group of neighbors arranged for voting rights organization, Souls to the Polls to help with on-site voting needs, including registration as many people in the building face challenges trying to do it on their own.
"They're with wheelchairs, walkers and some may have difficultly because of psychological issues which are most common here. They're afraid to go outside of the building," said Hengst.
She says last week, she called and left a voicemail to let the building manager know that Souls to the Polls would be coming out to help them today, but did not hear back until the day before the event was planned.
Hengst said she wanted them to set up a table in the building community room so residents interested in registering to vote or anyone with questions ahead of the election, could easily come and ask. Hengst says she personally met with many residents who were interested in participating and CBS 58 spoke to several residents who say they were excited about the event and banking on having the resource.
Hengst shared an email with CBS 58 from building management. A representative asked her to cancel the event...citing a "longstanding policy of remaining neutral and refraining from hosting political events within the building."
The email went on to say that that in the past, management has allowed non-partisan activities like "general transportation and voter awareness" but have "not permitted political groups to conduct registration on the premises."
"I had let them know numerous times that this is a bipartisan, non-partisan thing that we were doing. I would not have tried to do it if it were for one political party or another because I know better. They still would not let us," said Hengst.
Micheale Kapfhamer was hoping to get help registering to vote today and says he's disappointed the building wouldn't allow it. "It's unacceptable. I mean this is an American right and this is voter suppression," he said.
Several other residents expressed they were also disappointed.
"A lot of people don't know how to do any of this. They don't know you have to register first and have your I.D. and all this stuff together in order to register," said Lynn McKenzie, another resident.
Stuart Juravel, a resident who was able to get registered before now with the help of Hengst says its unfair folks weren’t able to do so today.
Someone from building management told CBS 58 that Souls to the Polls was not authorized to be on the property and that the proper channels had not been followed to set up the event. Hengst says that's simply not true and says she tried multiple times to notify management of the plans before they told her no.
The building manager did tell CBS 58 they take care of their residents and that they had already arranged for the Shorewood Village clerk's office to come this month to help residents with voter registration.
When asked however, the manager would not provide specific dates for when this would take place, only saying that a notice would be sent out to residents.
CBS 58 reached out to the Shorewood Village Clerk, Toya Harrell who says voter registration help would be happening there on Oct. 14th and 21st.