AB434: Bill Text

(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.

Additionally, the bill requires the elections board to promulgate an administrative rule defining the "actual cost" of conducting a recount.

•Delivery of Recount Documents

Under current law, when a petition for an election recount is filed, the clerk or body with whom the petition is filed must have copies of the petition delivered to the candidates affected by the recount by the sheriff in the manner provided for service of a summons in a civil action.

This bill allows the opportunity for a candidate or an agent designated by the candidate to accept a copy of the petition personally.

•Minutes of Recount Proceedings

Under current law, a board of canvassers must keep complete minutes of all of its recount proceedings. This bill requires a copy of those minutes to be provided to the state elections board.

•Time for a Hearing on Recount Appeals

Under current law, an appeal of a recount determination may be made to the circuit court. When an appeal is filed, the court must set the matter for a hearing. However, the time prescribed by the statutes in which the hearing must be held appears to conflict in two different statutory provisions. One provision requires the hearing to be held within five days of the date of the order requiring the municipal clerks to transfer relevant election materials to the court, and another provision requires the hearing to be held within 15 days of the filing of an answer to the appeal. This bill removes this apparent conflict and requires the court to hold a hearing 15 days after the date that the answer to the appeal is filed.

The people of the state of Wisconsin, represented in senate and assembly, do enact as follows:

AB434, s. 1 Section 1. 5.01 (4) (a) of the statutes is amended to read:

AB434,10,8 5.01 (4) (a) If 2 or more candidates for the same office receive the greatest, but an equal number of votes, the winner shall be chosen by lot in the presence of the board of canvassers charged with the responsibility to determine the election, except as provided in s. 8.17 (4) (b), or in the case of an election for state or national office or municipal judge, if the judge is elected under s. 755.01 (4), or metropolitan sewerage commissioner, if the commissioner is elected under s. 66.23 (11) (am), in the presence of the chairperson of the board.

AB434, s. 2 Section 2. 5.02 (26) of the statutes is created to read:

AB434,10,12 5.02 (26) "Write-in candidate" means a candidate who seeks or receives votes at an election for an office without qualifying to have his or her name appear on the ballot at that election for the office for which the candidate seeks or receives votes.

AB434, s. 3 Section 3. 5.05 (1) (e) of the statutes is amended to read: