Republicans Stall Elections Reforms

Vote here sign outside a Milwaukee polling place. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

With Wisconsin again expected to be one of of a handful of states that decides who is elected president in 2024, the most significant change requested before that election – creation of an Elections Commission Office of Transparency and Compliance – is going nowhere in the Legislature.

In his 2023-25 budget request, Democratic Gov. Tony Evers asked Republicans who control the Legislature to spend $1.9 million over the next two years to create the 10-employee office that would be headed by an inspector general. But that was one of a record 545 changes Evers proposed that were dropped from the next budget that the Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee, controlled by Republicans, has begun to draft.

Creating an inspector general was unanimously recommended by the three Democratic and three Republican members of Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC) after controversies and lawsuits resulting from the 2020 presidential election. President Joe Biden carried Wisconsin by only 21,000 votes, out of 3.2 million cast. Biden’s wins in Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Georgia gave him enough Electoral College votes to be elected. Trump then sued to overturn voting results in Dane and Milwaukee counties, but a 4-3 state Supreme Court split dismissed the lawsuit.

Other changes to election laws Evers wants to be in place before the next presidential vote included allowing absentee ballots to start being counted on Monday before an election, automatic voter registration when drivers’ licenses are issued and shortening the residency requirement to vote from 28 to 10 days

The request for a WEC inspector general also didn’t make the list of requested changes a bipartisan group of legislators announced on May 4. But Don Millis, WEC chair, and WEC Administrator Meagan Wolfe repeated the need for an inspector general after the Finance Committee removed it from the budget.

“I am hoping the inspector general program can be restored because this was a budget-related program the commission recommended on a bipartisan, unanimous vote,” said Millis, an appointee of Assembly Speaker Robin Vos.

Millis said he understood why most of the other elections-related changes Evers wants were removed, because they involved policy – and not fiscal – issues. For example, he added, ”I agree with counting absentee ballots on the Monday before elections. But that proposal has no place in a budget bill. Including such provisions in the budget was nothing more than a performative act designed to embarrass Republicans.”

Wolfe said she hopes Republicans revisit “future proposals to increase oversight, transparency, and accountability in our elections.” Specifically, Wolfe said, “The proposal to create an elections inspector general program is exactly what Wisconsin needs to address voters’ concerns directly and reclaim confidence in our elections.”

Other changes requested by Evers “would allow the commission to increase the number of polling place accessibility audits, and to respond faster to public concerns, records requests, and formal complaints,” she added. “These investments are critical to boosting resiliency in our election infrastructure ahead of next year’s general election.’

Meanwhile, a bipartisan group of legislators who are not members of the Finance Committee announced a package of changes they hope can pass the Legislature.

Their changes would:

-Raise the penalty for intentionally harming an election official from a misdemeanor to a felony, prohibit public access to records of an election official’s address and protect election officials from losing their jobs for reporting suspicious activity and fraud.

-Prohibit towns and cities from closing more than half their polling locations unless local officials hold a public hearing and approve the shutdowns at least 30 days before an election. Polling sites could only be closed fewer than 30 days before an election with permission of the local clerk and the head of the local governing body. Milwaukee closed all but five of its 182 polling sites during the 2020 spring presidential primary because of Covid 19.

-Require military service members to provide their Department of Defense ID number when requesting a military absentee ballot. Local clerks would have to verify the voter’s identity with the state Department of Military Affairs before counting a military ballot.

Last year, Evers vetoed nine Republicans’ changes to election laws. They would have let lawmakers withhold money from election officials, reworked how WEC members are chosen, changed voting rules for the disabled and nursing home residents, and banned local officials from using private grants to administer elections.

Steven Walters started covering the Capitol in 1988. Contact him at stevenscotwalters@gmail.com