Lack of GOP Support Dooms Absentee Ballot Processing Bill
Despite calling it the most important reform to restore confidence in elections, GOP lawmaker says Senate Republicans aren't on board
A City of Milwaukee poll worker raises her marker for clerk support while a Trump campaign observer objects to a absentee ballot envelope during the 2020 presidential recount. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.
Despite past bipartisan backing, a Republican state lawmaker says he has to “punt” an initiative to let election clerks process absentee ballots before election day because it doesn’t have enough GOP support.
In September, Republicans and Democrats in the state Assembly stood side-by-side and unveiled a series of bills to update Wisconsin’s election laws. One of those initiatives is known as early processing or Monday processing. Requested by clerks, it would let them process absentee ballots the day before an election so that results can be released sooner once the polls close.
The Monday process concept has been unable to clear the Legislature for several years. It was last introduced in 2023.
But during a Thursday hearing before the Assembly Committee on Campaigns and Elections, state Rep. Scott Krug, R-Rome, said that while he thinks Monday processing is the “most important reform” lawmakers can do to restore confidence in elections, there aren’t enough Republicans in the state Senate behind it. Krug used a football analogy to make his point.
“On the Monday process, it’s 4th and short, there’s 10 minutes left in the game. Right now, I’m going to punt,” Krug said. “There will be time to get the ball back later … if we can get some more input from the state Senate, I think we can figure out a way to get it done.”
Krug was testifying on his latest election bill, which would make a series of changes like banning mobile, in-person, absentee voting sites, requiring clerks to return absentee ballots with errors to voters, shortening the window for applying to vote absentee and requiring election results be posted by 10 p.m.
Democrats on the committee weren’t happy about Krug pulling the Monday processing provision.
“So, I just want to know, is it worth throwing away the big thing that we know is the solution clerks are asking for, for all this little stuff that is going to lose support?” asked state Rep. Clinton Anderson, D-Beloit.
Krug pushed back and said the other changes in his bill stand on their own, but he won’t introduce Monday processing until “my caucus is ready.”
“If the caucus comes back and says, in January, February, we’ve got more support for it, I’ve had time to talk to more members,” said Krug. “I am no stranger to be able to write bills on the fly.”
State Rep. Lee Snodgrass, D-Appleton, called the Monday process provision “the elephant in the room.” She introduced a substitute amendment to Krug’s bill that would add it back in.
“Your current bill that’s in front of us, I will not vote for unless it has a Monday processing component,” said Snodgrass. “That is the compromise.”
A spokesperson for Democratic Gov. Tony Evers said their office hasn’t had enough time to review Krug’s bill, which was introduced Tuesday, and wouldn’t comment.
Later in the hearing, lawmakers heard from local election officials from Milwaukee, Rock and Green counties. They were opposed to some of the bill’s changes, particularly the mandate that election results be posted by 10 p.m. on election night. They said with limited staff, the requirement could actually delay ballot processing, especially in large cities like Milwaukee.
Monday absentee ballot processing bill stalls again due to lack of GOP support was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.
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