•Location of Polling Places
Under current law, the governing body of a city, village or town establishes polling
places, except that the city board of election commissioners establishes polling places in
cities over 500,000 population. So far as practicable, the places chosen must be public
buildings.
This bill permits the authority charged with establishing polling places to choose
a nonpublic building for this purpose if a public building is not practicable, as under
current law, or a nonpublic building better serves the needs of the electorate.
•Challenging Electors
Under current law, an election inspector must challenge an elector's qualifications
to vote if the inspector knows or suspects that the elector attempting to vote is
unqualified. In doing so, the inspector must administer an oath to the challenged elector
and must ask various questions specified in the statutes designed to aid in determining
the elector's qualifications. The inspector may also ask any other questions to determine
the elector's qualifications. The statutory questions are as follows:
"(1) If challenged as unqualified on the ground that the person is not a citizen: Are
you a citizen of the United States?
(2) If challenged as unqualified on the ground that the person is not a resident of
the ward where the person's vote is offered:
(a) When did you last come into this ward?
(b) Did you come for a temporary purpose only, or for the purpose of making it your
home?
(c) Did you come into this ward for the purpose of voting here?
(d) Have you now and have you had for the last 10 days a voting residence in this
ward? If so, what is the particular description, name and location of your residence?
(e) If the answer to par. (d) is no, then: Have you moved from the ward after the
close of registration?
(f) Have you registered to vote at this election at any other place within or outside
this state?
(g) Have you applied for an absentee ballot at any place in this or any other state?
(h) If single, do you board for part of the week, month or year with your parents?
(i) If you have no parents, or are self-supporting, have you registered to vote in this
ward?
(j) Will you file your next state income tax return as a resident of this ward?
(3) If challenged as unqualified on the ground that the person is not 18 years of age:
Are you 18 years of age to the best of your knowledge and belief?
(4) If challenged as unqualified on the ground that the person has made or become
directly or indirectly interested in any bet or wager depending upon the result of the
election:
(a) Have you made, in any manner, any bet or wager depending upon the result
of this election, or on the election of any person for whom votes may be cast at the election?
(b) Are you in any manner, directly or indirectly, interested in any bet or wager
depending in any way upon the result of this election?
(5) If challenged as unqualified on the ground that the person has been convicted
of treason, felony or bribery and not been subsequently restored to civil rights:
(a) Have you ever been tried or convicted in this state of any crime? If yes, then—
(b) Of what crime, when and in what court were you so convicted?
(c) Have you in any manner since the conviction been restored to civil rights, and
if yes, how?".
Challenges to an elector's qualifications may also be made by other electors who
know or suspect that an elector is not qualified to vote. In such a case, the elector making
the challenge is asked similar questions, which are also specified in the statutes, designed
to elicit information about the challenged elector's qualifications.
This bill repeals the statutory questions used when an elector's qualifications are
challenged. Instead, the bill requires the elections board, by rule, to determine the
questions to be asked when an elector's qualifications are challenged.
•Report on Impediments to Voting
Under current federal and state law, all polling places, with limited exceptions,
must be accessible to handicapped and elderly voters. Until 1994, federal law also
required the chief election officer of each state to report to the federal election commission
every two years the number of accessible and inaccessible polling places in the state and
the reasons for any instances of inaccessibility. State law requires the executive director
of the state elections board to transmit a copy of each such report to the legislature.
Federal law, however, no longer requires this report.
This bill deletes the current reporting requirements and instead requires the state
elections board to submit a biennial report on the impediments faced by elderly and
handicapped voters in the state to each house of the legislature for distribution to the
appropriate standing committees.
•Voting Residence After Annexation
Under current law, when territory of a municipality becomes part of another
municipality, an elector of the territory must vote in the municipality in which the
territory is included on the day of the election.
This bill provides that when such territory becomes part of another municipality
fewer than 10 days prior to an election, an elector must vote in the municipality in which
the territory was included prior to the change.
•Children of Overseas Electors
Under current law, the adult dependent children of members of the armed forces
and merchant marine, federal employes and peace corps volunteers who are stationed
abroad may vote in elections in this state in the ward or election district where the parent
who provides support for the children is entitled to vote. This bill extends the privilege
of voting, in federal elections only, to the adult citizen children of other U.S. citizens who
are residing overseas, subject to approval at a statewide referendum to be held in
November 2000.
•Depositing Ballots in Ballot Boxes
Generally, under current law, when an elector has completed voting his or her
ballot, the elector may either deposit the ballot in the ballot box or deliver it to an election
inspector for deposit in the ballot box. However, in certain situations, electors are not
given such an option. For example, persons otherwise qualified to vote, but who have not
resided in the state for 10 days prior to the date of the presidential election, may vote for
president but the statutes provide that such electors' ballots must be given to an election
inspector who must deposit the ballots in the ballot box. Conversely, at partisan
primaries and the presidential preference primary when paper ballots are distributed to
electors, the statutes provide that an elector must place the ballot in the appropriate
ballot box and do not provide the option for an inspector to deposit the ballot. This bill
amends current law to specifically provide that, in these situations, the ballots may be
either deposited directly into the ballot box by the electors or given to the inspector who
must deposit them into the ballot box.
III. ROLE OF POLITICAL PARTIES AND CANDIDATES
•Election of Committeemen or Committeewomen
Under current law, political parties qualifying for separate ballot status elect their
party committeemen or committeewomen at the September primary. The function of
committeemen and committeewomen is to represent their neighborhoods in the structure
of the political parties and to serve as liaisons between their party and the residents of
their election districts.
This bill requires that political party committeemen or committeewomen be
selected by a vote of the county political party members in good standing at a meeting held
after the September primary but before April 1 of the following year.
•Affidavits Relating to Nomination Papers and Petitions
Under current law, the circulator of nomination papers or other election-related
petitions must make, under oath, an affidavit attesting to certain information including
the fact that he or she personally circulated the nomination papers or petition, personally
obtained the signatures thereon and knows the respective residences of the signers
thereof. A circulator falsifying any such information may be fined not more than $10,000
or imprisoned not more than three years, or both, under the election laws. The person
may also be subject to a fine of not more than $10,000 or imprisonment not to exceed five
years, or both, for false swearing.
This bill deletes the requirement that circulators of nomination papers or
election-related petitions make an affidavit under oath. Instead, the bill requires
circulators to certify all of the information currently required in the affidavit, subject to
the same penalties under the election laws. However, under the bill, falsifying the
information in the circulator's certification would not subject a person to the penalties for
false swearing.
•Presidential Ballots
Current law requires a separate ballot when the president and vice president of the
United States are to be elected. This bill eliminates that requirement and requires
instead that the names of candidates for president and vice president be placed on the
official general election ballot in a manner that will allow electors to vote for a political
party's candidates for president and vice president by voting a straight party ticket.
•Partisan Primary and Election Ballots
Under current law, every recognized political party listed on the official ballot at
the last gubernatorial election whose candidate for any statewide office received at least
1% of the total votes cast for that office and, if the last general election was also a
presidential election, every recognized political party listed on the ballot at that election
whose candidate for president received at least 1% of the total votes cast for that office
is entitled to a separate primary ballot or one or more separate columns or rows on the
September primary ballot. In addition, at least one candidate of the party for a state office
must have qualified to have his or her name appear on the ballot under the name of the
party at the last gubernatorial election.
This bill imposes an additional requirement that, within each assembly district or
county, the party have at least one candidate for any national, state or county office listed
on the current ballot. If a party does not qualify for a separate ballot, column or row, the
bill requires that the ballot contain a place for casting a vote for a write-in candidate of
the party for each office.
•Filing Declarations of Candidacy
Currently, the name of each person who receives a vote at an election is recorded
on the returns for that election. When a county or state canvass of an election is
performed, the names of write-in candidates who receive a comparatively small number
of votes may be omitted and the votes designated on the returns as "scattering votes".
This bill permits any write-in candidate to file a declaration of candidacy with the
appropriate filing officer or agency, in the same form as is currently provided for other
candidates, no later than 5 p.m. on the day before a primary or other election at which
the candidate seeks office. Under the bill, the name of any write-in candidate need not
be recorded on the returns for any election unless the candidate has filed a timely
declaration of candidacy for the office for which the candidate receives votes. The
procedure does not apply if a write-in candidate seeks an office for which there are no
candidates whose names appear on the ballot or if there appears on the ballot the name
of a deceased candidate for the office which the write-in candidate seeks.
•Commencement of Terms of Office for Certain Elected Town Officers
This bill changes the date of commencement of the terms of office for elected town
officers from one week after the spring election to two weeks after the election, consistent
with the commencement dates of elected county, city and village officers. The bill does
not change the June 1 commencement date for the term of an elected town assessor.
IV. ELECTIONS ADMINISTRATION
•Appointment of Poll Workers
Currently, party committeemen and committeewomen, if any, may nominate to
municipalities individuals to serve as election inspectors (poll workers) and special voting
deputies at certain nursing and retirement homes and community-based residential
facilities. Under the appointment procedure for election inspectors, a committeeman or
committeewoman submits a number of nominees equal to the number of inspectors to be
appointed. A committeeman or committeewoman may designate any individual as a first
choice nominee. The municipal governing body or board of election commissioners must
appoint every first choice nominee unless the governing body or board of election
commissioners obtains permission from the state elections board not to appoint the
nominee. The elections board may only permit nonappointment if a showing of good
cause is made. A municipality's request for nonappointment may be contested and is
subject to notice and hearing under the state administrative procedure act. The decision
of the elections board may be appealed to circuit court. Regardless of whether nominees
are submitted to a municipality by a committeeman or committeewoman, all election
inspectors must be designated to represent one of the two political parties whose
candidate for president or governor received the greatest number of votes in the area
served by the polling place at the most recent general election, with the party whose
candidate received the greatest number of votes entitled to be represented by one more
inspector than the other party. Appointees serve for two-year terms. Vacancies are filled
by the municipal clerk or board of election commissioners of each municipality in the
same manner that original appointments are made.
This bill provides that whenever there are an insufficient number of nominees
submitted to a municipality by the appropriate party committeemen and
committeewomen, the municipality may appoint election inspectors or special voting
deputies without regard to party affiliation.
•Electronic Poll Lists
Under current law, election officials at each election ward must maintain two
separate lists of all persons voting.
This bill authorizes those lists to be maintained in an electronic format approved
by the elections board or its executive director.
•Reporting Election Returns by Ward
Current law authorizes the governing body of a municipality to combine two or
more wards for voting purposes to facilitate using a common polling place. However, with
certain exceptions, every municipality having a population of 35,000 or more is required
to maintain separate election returns for each ward so combined. This bill changes the
population threshold so that only municipalities with a population of 50,000 or more are
required to maintain separate election returns for each ward so combined.
•Composition of County Board of Canvassers
Under current law, the county board of canvassers is composed of the county clerk
and two qualified electors of the county appointed by the clerk. If the county clerk's office
is vacant, if the clerk cannot perform his or her duties or if the clerk is a candidate for an
office to be canvassed by the board, the county executive or the chairperson of the county
board of supervisors, if there is no executive, must designate another qualified elector of
the county to perform the clerk's duties.
Also under current law, every county clerk is required to appoint one or more
deputies.
This bill provides that, if a county clerk's office is vacant, if the clerk cannot perform
his or her duties, or if the clerk is a candidate at an election being canvassed, the county
clerk shall designate a deputy clerk to perform his or her duties. Under the bill, if the
county clerk and the designated deputy clerk are both unable to perform their duties, the
county executive or chairperson of the county board of supervisors designates another
qualified elector to serve, as currently provided.
•Enforcement of Campaign Finance Law by Milwaukee County Board of Election
Commissioners
Under current law, the state elections board is authorized to investigate, subpoena
records and commence and settle civil actions requiring the payment of civil forfeitures
for violations of the campaign financing law. This bill grants the same authority to the
county board of election commissioners, which must be established in any county with a
population of more than 500,000 (currently, Milwaukee County), with respect to
campaign finance reports and statements for county offices and referenda.
•Administration of Elections for Joint Municipal Judges
Under current law, municipalities may enter into an agreement to establish a joint
municipal court. In such cases, candidates for municipal judge file nomination papers
with the elections board and their elections are certified by the board of state canvassers.
This bill requires those candidates to file nomination papers with the county clerk or
board of election commissioners of the county having the largest population in the
jurisdiction served by the judge and their elections to be certified by the board of
canvassers of that county.
•Elimination of Preparation of Write-In Absentee Ballots for Military and Overseas
Electors
Under current law, municipal clerks must prepare write-in absentee ballots for
delivery to military and overseas electors no later than 90 days before the election and
distribute those ballots when available or when requested. This bill deletes the
requirement to prepare and distribute these ballots. Under the bill, electors who prepare
these ballots themselves may continue to cast them.
•Consolidated Paper Ballots
Under current law, if a municipality utilizes paper ballots at an election, it must
provide separate ballots for certain offices or combinations of offices specified by law and
separate ballots for referenda. The ballots are then distributed only to those groups of
electors who are eligible to vote in the elections to which they pertain.
This bill authorizes a municipality, with the consent of the county clerk or board
of election commissioners of each county in which there is located any portion of the
municipality, to substitute for paper ballots a consolidated ballot that is prepared for
utilization with an electronic voting system in any municipality located in any such
county. With the consolidated ballot, all of the offices and referenda appear on the same
ballot.
The bill provides that a consolidated ballot may only be distributed to electors who
are eligible to vote for all of the offices and in all of the referenda appearing on the ballot.
•Filing of Referendum Questions
Generally, under current law, notice of referenda questions that will appear on an
election ballot must be published by the appropriate county or municipal clerk or other
appropriate election official or agency prior to the election at which they will appear.
However, the statutes do not provide a specific time by which the questions must be
provided to the official or agency. This bill requires that, unless otherwise required by
current law, all referenda questions that will appear on an election ballot, and all
petitions seeking to have questions submitted to a vote of the people, be submitted to the
official or agency responsible for the preparation of the ballots no later than six weeks
prior to the election at which the question will appear. If, under current law, a referendum
may be held sooner than six weeks after the filing of a petition or the passage of a
resolution calling for that referendum, this bill extends the time period before which the
referendum may be held to not less than six weeks.
•Ballot Design Requirements
Current law sets forth numerous, specific ballot design requirements for use in
elections, including spring primary ballots, spring election ballots, September primary
ballots, general election ballots and special referenda ballots.
This bill deletes these specific requirements. Instead, the bill requires that, unless
otherwise provided by the statutes, all ballots conform with the ballot forms prescribed
by the state elections board.
•Recount Fees
Under current law, each petition for a recount must be accompanied by a fee that
is determined by the vote differential between the votes cast for the leading candidate and
those for the petitioner or between the affirmative and negative votes cast upon a
referendum question. If the vote differential is less than 10 and the total votes cast are
1,000 or less, or less than one-half of 1% of the total votes cast if more than 1,000 votes
are cast, the petitioner is not required to pay a fee. If the vote differential is at least 10
out of a total vote of 1,000 or less, or at least one-half of 1% if more than 1,000 votes are
cast, the petitioner is required to pay a fee of $5 for each ward for which the petition
requests a ballot recount, or $5 for each municipality where no wards exist.
This bill specifies the following recount fees depending on the vote differential
between the votes cast for the leading candidate and those cast for the petitioner or the
difference between the affirmative and negative votes cast upon any referendum
question:
1. No fee if the vote differential is less than one-half of 1%.
2. Five dollars per ward (or municipality where no wards exist) if the vote
differential is at least one-half of 1% but less than 3%.
3. One-half the actual cost of the recount if the vote differential is at least 3% but
less than 5%.
4. The actual cost of the recount if the vote differential is 5% or more.
