Republican bill would allow clerks to begin processing absentee ballots a day before Election Day
MADISON – A bill introduced by three Republican lawmakers would allow clerks to begin processing absentee ballots the day before Election Day, something election officials in Wisconsin have long asked for.
While clerks would not be able to count absentee ballots until after the polls close under the "Monday processing bill," they could perform tasks such as ensuring the voter is not ineligible due to a felony conviction, checking that the envelope contains information like a witness signature and taking the ballot out of the envelope to run it through voting equipment.
Under current law, clerks cannot begin counting absentee ballots before 7 a.m. on Election Day. In past elections, particularly in Milwaukee, the counting of those ballots has stretched late into the night or early morning and leading sometimes to a late change in who prevailed in a hotly contested statewide race. The bill would require clerks to report the total number of absentee ballots at three points on Monday and Tuesday.
In 2018, incumbent Gov. Scott Walker appeared to have a lead before the late tally of absentee ballots in the heavily Democratic Milwaukee flipped the race to Tony Evers. In 2020, the later tally helped move Democrat Joe Biden over President Donald Trump, fueling the former president's false claims about election fraud in Wisconsin.
In an Assembly informational hearing last week, county and municipal clerks said beginning to process absentee ballots earlier was one of their top priorities. A presentation from the National Conference of State Legislatures showed Wisconsin as one of only a handful of states that do not allow clerks to begin processing before Election Day.
Committee members and the bill authors, Rep. Ron Tusler, R-Harrison, Rep. Dave Maxey, R-New Berlin, and Sen. Rachael Cabral-Guevara, R-Appleton, noted voters can be confused when large numbers of absentee ballots are processed late and added to the returns, sometimes changing which candidate is in the lead.
"In 2018, voters in Wisconsin went to bed with one gubernatorial candidate in the lead. After the processing of all ballots was completed, the lead flipped to another candidate. In 2020, the same event took place," the authors wrote in a memo seeking cosponsors Monday. "Wisconsin voters deserve elections that can be run as efficiently as possible."
Clerks want early processing to be optional
The proposal would also require communities using central count locations, like Milwaukee, Janesville and Beloit, to begin processing absentee ballots on Monday for spring and fall general elections. But some clerks asked that Monday processing be optional.
Elena Hilby — the clerk of Sun Prairie, which does not use a central facility to process absentee ballots — said the change wouldn't help her city.
"We love the fact that we are so decentralized, but then that does mean that different municipalities need different options," she said. "We're too busy on Monday, (we) couldn't even start."
Milwaukee Election Commission Executive Director Claire Woodall-Vogg called the bill “phenomenal” but also said it would be improved by making Monday processing optional or perhaps making it mandatory solely for larger cities like Milwaukee that will use it every election.
Changing the law to allow processing of absentee ballots before 7 a.m. on election day would help ensure results are available before 9 p.m. on election night, she said.
That’s significant for Milwaukee, which has been the target of criticism and conspiracy theories over the early morning hours it has reported absentee results in the past. Wisconsin’s largest city counts its absentee ballots in a single location known as “central count” and reports the absentee results all at once, which can change the course of elections.
Woodall-Vogg said the late-night processing that’s currently in place is a big deal not only in state elections but also in nationwide races because of Wisconsin’s status as a key swing state.
“As a swing state, that’s a really big deal because it does result in us having what is perceived to be a big dump of results at 2 or 3 o’clock in the morning,” Woodall-Vogg said. “And I think this would eliminate that so we would have greater trust in elections locally but also nationwide.”
Committee members suggest bill could be amended
The bill includes other provisions that would change election procedures, including fixing a deadline in state law for sending absentee ballots that clerks and the Wisconsin Elections Commission acknowledge is impossible due to the timing of spring primary elections.
The proposal also provides whistleblower protections for clerks who believe they witnessed election fraud. The bill also requires WEC to verify voters' citizenship status "as soon as practicable" by cross-checking voter registration with state Department of Transportation data.
More: Two Republican lawmakers propose adding voter ID laws to the state constitution
The chair of the Assembly committee on elections, Rep. Scott Krug, R-Nekoosa, said the bill would probably receive a hearing but could get amended. Two of the bill authors, Maxey and Tusler, sit on the committee.
"My preference is to have as clean a bill as possible," Krug said, calling Monday processing a high priority for everyone, including Gov. Tony Evers and other Democrats.
Rep. Lee Snodgrass, D-Appleton, called the bill "overinflated" and said provisions such as the citizenship verification have been introduced separately by Republicans in the past. She said the committee has been working to have discussions about bills "out in the open" and believes members can get to a version with more support.
Krug and Snodgrass both said lawmakers are working in a "flurry" to start introducing election bills, including measures with bipartisan support. Lawmakers at last week's hearing indicated they would work across the aisle to propose legislation to address the changes clerks asked for ahead of the 2024 elections.
"Last-minute law changes are stressful. They're difficult, they leave so much room for error," Diane Coenen, the city clerk of Oconomowoc, told lawmakers. "When we have all these last-minute changes, sometimes you're right on target, you're making that change, but all of a sudden you're interrupted. A flurry of things happen and you go automatically, right back to doing it the way you've done it for a number of years."
Alison Dirr of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel contributed to this report.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Bill would enable early processing of absentee ballots in Wisconsin
