State a Leader in Election Subversion

A report released Wednesday warns that legislative action, a right-wing judicial system and misconduct by election officials are threatening free and fair elections in Wisconsin and across the country.

The report, an update to a previous one written by the States United Democracy Center, Protect Democracy and Madison-based Law Forward, shows that Wisconsin’s 38 proposed pieces of legislation to overhaul the state’s election system are part of a larger trend. In total, the report found that as of July 31, 244 elections-related bills have been introduced in 33 states.

Across the country, 50 of the bills — which would allow state legislatures to interfere with elections — were enacted. In Wisconsin, most of the introduced legislation was vetoed by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers.

Wisconsin, which has seen conspiracy theories about the election play a major role in the state’s politics in the last two years, had more election-related bills introduced than any other state. Only Arizona, which had 35 bills introduced, comes close.

“As we have tracked over time, the risk of election subversion is evolving, too — and it’s not limited to state legislatures,” Elizabeth Pierson of Law Forward said in a statement. “Here in Wisconsin, we are watching the U.S. Supreme Court as well as our own Supreme Court issue opinions that could undermine free elections, we have people pushing election lies to fuel campaigns for public office or using their current offices to destabilize our democracy, and we have seen election administrators leaving their posts. This latest update puts it all together to sound the alarm that our democracy is in trouble.”