Governor
_____________
State of Wisconsin
Office of the Governor
August 10, 2021
The Honorable, the Senate:
hist138636I am vetoing Senate Bill 205 in its entirety.
This bill would modify voting at a qualifying nursing home residential care facility, shorten the time a voter in that type of facility could cast their ballot, and require the administrator of the facility to contact family members of the resident voter so that those family members supervise the voter while they cast their vote.
I am vetoing this bill because I object to shortening the time allowed to administer voting at a nursing home or assisted living facility. Current law requires special voting deputies to administer voting at a qualifying by 5 p.m. on the Monday before an election, ensuring flexibility to schedule voting in these locations. This bill would shorten the window so that they must be done by 5 p.m. on the sixth working day preceding the election. The bill provides no justification for this change to the voting window for this vulnerable population.
Among other provisions, the bill would also require the administrator of the facility to contact every family member of a resident voter for whom the facility has contact information so that those family members might supervise the voter while they cast their vote. The law already allows the administrator of a facility to contact family members for this purpose at the resident voter’s request. This bill deprives resident voters of their right to a private and independent vote by removing voter’s ability to choose whether family is contacted or not.
Respectfully submitted,
TONY EVERS
Governor
_____________
State of Wisconsin
Office of the Governor
August 10, 2021
The Honorable, the Senate:
hist138637I am vetoing Senate Bill 210 in its entirety.
This bill would modify certain election procedures by requiring the distance between election observers and tables where recount activities are occurring to be no more than three feet, would require all observers to wear certain badgers, would specify that it is an offense to interfere with a voter in preparing or casting their ballot or hinder an election official, and would specify that it is an offence to intentionally obstruct an observer’s access to observe election procedures.
I am vetoing this bill because I object to the reduction of distance between election observers and tables where election activities are occurring. Under current law, election procedures specify that the distance is a minimum of three feet and a maximum of eight feet, which allows observes sufficient proximity to ensure election procedures are being followed correctly and for the local officials to ensure they can provide appropriate viewing areas given the space available without observers getting in the way. Aside from being unnecessary, mandating that election observers be no more than three feet away creates a greater potential for observers to interfere with or intimidate election officials performing their duties, and a practical concern that observers could intrude upon election officials and possibly prevent them from effectively and efficiently carrying out their duties, both of which could degrade the quality of our elections.
Respectfully submitted,
TONY EVERS
Governor
_____________
State of Wisconsin
Office of the Governor
August 10, 2021
The Honorable, the Senate:
hist138638I am vetoing Senate Bill 212 in its entirety.
This bill explicitly prohibits any person other than a voter or a witness from correcting an error on an absentee ballot and creates a method of notifying a voter via a website that their ballot will be discarded if not corrected.
I am vetoing this bill because I object to its prohibition on the current, long-standing practice of clerks in this state correcting minor errors and believe that this bill will almost certainly result in valid ballots never being counted. The bill would create severe penalties for a clerk making the most minor of corrections to an otherwise properly completed absentee ballot certificate, such as fixing the zip code. There is a clear difference between a ballot where the witness simply missed the zip code portion of the address, though the rest was complete, and a ballot that had no witness at all. This bill would treat all errors the same, requiring all ballots with even the most inconsequential typo to either be discarded or sent back to the voter if the clerk has time.
Additionally, because the bill would prevent any person but the voter or witness from correcting their respective mistakes, and because ballots will be discarded if not corrected, the method of notifying voters of an error become critically important. The bill only requires that notification of an error be posted via the MyVote Wisconsin website. Other means of contact are allowed but not required. While it may be practical for a clerk to call a small number of voters who have made an error, it is unrealistic for clerks to call large numbers of voters to warn them that their ballot is being discarded if they do not correct it. A person in a community with fewer people, and therefore fewer absentee voters, may be likely to receive such a warning call, but a person in a more populated area is unlikely to be called and warned. Furthermore, by only requiring voters to be warned via a website that their vote will not be counted, this bill would also disadvantage populations throughout the state who may have difficulty using or accessing the internet.
Respectfully submitted,
TONY EVERS
Governor
_____________
State of Wisconsin
Office of the Governor
August 10, 2021
The Honorable, the Senate:
hist138639I am vetoing Senate Bill 292 in its entirety.
This bill would require a municipality that chooses to broadcast or live stream election night canvassing proceedings to store a recording of those proceedings for 22 months.
I am vetoing this bill because I object to creating an unnecessary and unequal burden for certain municipalities. This bill purports to be about transparency, but if that were the case, the bill would have required all municipalities to broadcast or live stream canvassing proceedings and store the recordings of such proceedings. Instead, this bill saddles communities that have, in the interest of transparency, chosen to broadcast their canvassing with the additional requirement to then store a recording of it. By placing an unequal burden on municipalities that choose to broadcast or live stream these proceedings, the bill acts as both a disincentive for municipalities to continue those efforts, and moreover, ultimately disincentives other municipalities from joining and starting this practice.
Respectfully submitted,
TONY EVERS
Governor
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