Wisconsin Assembly Passes Bills to Strengthen Absentee Voting

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Key proposals would standardize rules and provide valuable transparency for absentee voters, but come up short on pre-processing

MADISON, Wis. — Today, the Wisconsin State Assembly passed a series of bills that will strengthen absentee voting in the state. Secure Democracy USA has long championed key elements of A.B. 617, which would expand ballot tracking and create uniform requirements for notifying absentee voters of problems with their ballots. The Assembly also passed A.B. 312, which would create more uniform in-person absentee voting opportunities throughout the state.

Secure Democracy USA Advocacy Director Peter Skopec released the following statement in response to today’s legislative action:

“Wisconsin lawmakers advanced important improvements to absentee voting today. These are meaningful steps to strengthen both election transparency and voter confidence — we hope the State Senate will soon follow their lead.

“Still, opportunities remain for broad bipartisan cooperation. Lawmakers know Wisconsin voters are tired of waiting for election results, so allowing election officials to process absentee ballots ahead of Election Day should be a top priority ahead of next year’s midterm elections.”

Many of these policies are included in Secure Democracy Foundation’s recent report, States on Offense: The Path Forward to Strengthen Our Elections, which outlines specific policy recommendations states can take to strengthen elections and defend the will of the voters. Policy recommendations for Wisconsin around ballot pre-processing, statutory guidance for voters to fix mistakes on their ballot, and maintaining accurate voter rolls can be found here.

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