6.57 Registration list for school and special elections.
VOTING
6.76 Time off for voting.
6.80 Mechanics of voting.
VOTING ABSENTEE
6.85 Absent elector; definition.
6.86 Application for absentee ballot.
6.865 Federal postcard request form.
6.87 Absent voting procedure.
6.875 Absentee voting in nursing and retirement homes and certain community-based residential facilities.
6.88 Voting and recording the absentee ballot.
6.89 Absent electors list public.
CHALLENGING ELECTORS
6.92 Inspector making challenge.
6.925 Elector making challenge in person.
6.93 Challenging the absent elector.
6.935 Challenge based on incompetency.
6.94 Challenged elector oath.
6.95 Voting procedure for challenged electors.
Ch. 6 Cross-reference
Cross-reference: See definitions in s.
5.02.
WHO MAY VOTE
6.02
6.02
Qualifications, general. 6.02(1)
(1) Every U.S. citizen age 18 or older who has resided in an election district or ward for 10 days before any election where the citizen offers to vote is an eligible elector.
6.02(2)
(2) Any U.S. citizen age 18 or older who moves within this state later than 10 days before an election shall vote at his or her previous ward or election district if the person is otherwise qualified. If the elector can comply with the 10-day residence requirement at the new address and is otherwise qualified, he or she may vote in the new ward or election district.
6.02 Annotation
An eligible elector and a qualified elector are identical. Ch. 6 applies to annexation referendum elector qualifications under 66.021 (6). Washington v. Altoona, 73 W (2d) 250, 243 NW (2d) 404.
6.02 Annotation
Durational residence requirements. Clifford, 1973 WLR 914.
6.03
6.03
Disqualification of electors. 6.03(1)
(1) The following persons shall not be allowed to vote in any election and any attempt to vote shall be rejected:
6.03(1)(a)
(a) Any person who is incapable of understanding the objective of the elective process or under guardianship pursuant to the order of a court under
ch. 880, except that when a person is under limited guardianship, the court may determine that the person is competent to exercise the right to vote;
6.03(1)(b)
(b) Any person convicted of treason, felony or bribery, unless the person's civil rights are restored.
6.03(2)
(2) No person shall be allowed to vote in any election in which the person has made or become interested, directly or indirectly, in any bet or wager depending upon the result of the election.
6.03(3)
(3) No person may be denied the right to register to vote or the right to vote by reason that the person is alleged to be incapable of understanding the objective of the elective process unless the person has been so adjudicated in a separate proceeding instituted for that purpose by an elector of the municipality in accordance with the procedures set forth in
ch. 880 for determining incompetency. If a determination of incompetency of the person has already been made, or if a determination of limited incompetency has been made which does not include a specific finding that the subject is competent to exercise the right to vote, and a guardian or limited guardian has been appointed as a result of any such determination, then no determination of incapacity of understanding the objective of the elective process is required unless the guardianship is terminated or modified under
s. 880.34.
6.03 Annotation
Disenfranchisement of felons does not deny them equal protection. Richardson v. Ramirez, 418 US 24.
6.05
6.05
Election day age determines elector's rights. Any person who will be 18 years old on or before election day is entitled to vote if the person complies with this chapter.
6.10
6.10
Elector residence. Residence as a qualification for voting shall be governed by the following standards:
6.10(1)
(1) The residence of a person is the place where the person's habitation is fixed, without any present intent to move, and to which, when absent, the person intends to return.
6.10(2)
(2) When a married person's family resides at one place and that person's business is conducted at another place, the former place establishes the residence. If the family place is temporary or for transient purposes, it is not the residence.
6.10(3)
(3) When an elector moves from one ward to another or from one municipality to another within the state after the last registration day but at least 10 days before the election, the elector may vote in and be considered a resident of the new ward or municipality where residing upon transferring registration under
s. 6.40 (1) or upon registering at the proper polling place or other registration location in the new ward or municipality under
s. 6.55 (2). If the elector moves within 10 days of an election, the elector shall vote in the elector's old ward or municipality if otherwise qualified to vote there.
6.10(4)
(4) The residence of an unmarried person sleeping in one ward and boarding in another is the place where the person sleeps. The residence of an unmarried person in a transient vocation, a teacher or a student who boards at different places for part of the week, month or year, if one of the places is the residence of the person's parents, is the place of the parents' residence unless through registration or similar act the person elects to establish a residence elsewhere. If the person has no parents and if the person has not registered elsewhere, the person's residence shall be at the place which the person considered his or her residence in preference to any other for at least 10 days before an election. If this place is within the municipality, the person is entitled to all the privileges and subject to all the duties of other citizens having their residence there, including voting.
6.10(5)
(5) A person shall not lose residence when the person leaves home and goes into another state or county, town, village or ward of this state for temporary purposes with an intent to return.
6.10(6)
(6) As prescribed by
article III of the constitution, no person loses residence in this state while absent from this state on business for the United States or this state; and no member of the armed forces of the United States gains a residence in this state because of being stationed within this state.
6.10(7)
(7) A guest at a national or a state soldiers' home in this state, a guest at a home for the aged supported by benevolence, or a patient of any county home or other charitable institution, resides in the municipality where the home is located and within the ward where the guest or patient sleeps, unless before becoming a guest or patient at the home the guest or patient elects to maintain his or her prior residence as his or her voting residence.
6.10(8)
(8) No person gains a residence in any ward or election district of this state while there for temporary purposes only.
6.10(9)
(9) No person loses the right to vote at the person's place of residence while receiving public assistance or unemployment insurance even if the legal settlement for assistance is elsewhere.
6.10(10)
(10) If a person moves to another state with an intent to make a permanent residence there, or, if while there the person exercises the right to vote as a citizen of that state by voting, the person loses Wisconsin residence.
6.10(11)
(11) Neither an intent to acquire a new residence without removal, nor a removal without intent, shall affect residence.
6.10(12)
(12) Student status shall not be a consideration in determining residence for the purpose of establishing voter eligibility.
6.10(13)
(13) A military elector under
s. 6.22 (1) (b) who is the spouse or dependent of another military elector may elect to take as his or her residence either the individual's most recent residence in this state or the residence of the individual's spouse or the individual providing his or her support.
6.10 Annotation
Voter residency and absentee voting discussed. 60 Atty. Gen. 214.
6.10 Annotation
Voting residency of family members of military personnel stationed in Wisconsin discussed. 61 Atty. Gen. 269.
6.10 Annotation
Upon marriage to a Wisconsin serviceman, a nonresident wife may take Wisconsin voting residence of husband. 61 Atty. Gen. 365.
6.15
6.15
New residents; presidential voting. 6.15(1)
(1)
Qualifications. Any person who was or who is a qualified elector under
ss. 6.02 and
6.03, except that he or she has been a resident of this state for less than 10 days prior to the date of the presidential election, is entitled to vote for the president and vice president but for no other offices. The fact that the person was not registered to vote in the state from which he or she moved does not prevent voting in this state if the elector is otherwise qualified.
6.15(2)
(2) Application for ballot. Any person qualifying under
sub. (1) need not register to vote, but shall apply for and cast his or her ballot as follows:
6.15(2)(a)
(a) The elector's request for the application form may be made to the proper municipal clerk either in person or in writing any time during the 10-day period in which the elector's residence requirement is incomplete, but not later than the applicable deadline for making application for an absentee ballot, or may be made at the proper polling place in the ward or election district in which the elector resides. The application form shall be returned to the municipal clerk after the affidavit has been signed in the presence of the clerk or any officer authorized by law to administer oaths. The affidavit shall be in substantially the following form:
STATE OF WISCONSIN
County of ....
I, ...., do solemnly swear that I am a citizen of the United States; that prior to establishing Wisconsin residence, my legal residence was in the .... (town) (village) (city) of ...., state of ...., residing at .... (street address); that on the day of the next presidential election, I shall be at least 18 years of age and that I have been a legal resident of the state of Wisconsin since ...., .... (year), residing at .... (street address), in the [.... ward of the .... aldermanic district of] the (town) (village) (city) of ...., county of ....; that I have resided in the state less than 10 days, that I am qualified to vote for president and vice president at the election to be held November ...., .... (year), that I am not voting at any other place in this election and that I hereby make application for an official presidential ballot, in accordance with section 6.15 of the Wisconsin statutes.
Signed ....
P.O. Address ....
Subscribed and sworn to before me this .... day of ...., .... (year)
....(Name)
....(Title)
6.15(2)(b)
(b) The clerk shall provide with the application form a card which the elector shall fill in and return with the application to the municipal clerk. The card shall state that the elector intends to vote for president and vice president in Wisconsin and that his or her voting privileges should be canceled at his or her previous residence. The card shall be in substantially the following form:
.... (Full Name - print or type)
It is my intent to vote for president and vice president in Wisconsin, under section 6.15, Wisconsin Statutes.
( ) I am not registered to vote at my previous address.
( ) I am registered to vote at my previous address and I hereby authorize the cancellation of my previous voting privileges at that address:
.... (Street), .... (Town, village, city), .... (State) .... (Zip)
Signature ....
Present Address ....
6.15(2)(c)
(c) The municipal clerk upon receipt of the application form and voting privileges cancellation card shall immediately forward the card to the proper official of the applicant's prior residence.
6.15(3)(a)1.1. Upon proper completion of the application and cancellation card, the municipal clerk shall inform the elector that he or she may vote for the presidential electors not sooner than 9 days nor later than 5 p.m. on the day before the election at the office of the municipal clerk, or at a specified polling place on election day. When voting at the municipal clerk's office, the applicant shall provide identification and shall mark or punch the ballot in the clerk's presence in a manner that will not disclose his or her vote. Unless the ballot is utilized with an electronic voting system, the applicant shall fold the ballot so as to conceal his or her vote. The applicant shall then deposit the ballot and seal it in an envelope furnished by the clerk.
6.15(3)(a)2.
2. The clerk shall enclose the envelope containing the ballot in a carrier envelope, securely seal it, and indorse it with his or her name, title and the words, "This envelope contains the vote for president and vice president of a new resident and shall be opened only at the polls during polling hours on election day". The clerk shall keep the envelope in his or her office until the clerk delivers it to the inspectors, as provided in
sub. (4).
6.15(3)(a)3.
3. The clerk shall keep open to public inspection a list of all new residents who have voted under this section. The list shall give the name, address and application date of each elector.
6.15(3)(b)
(b)
Election day. An eligible elector may appear at the polling place for the ward or election district where he or she resides and make application for a ballot under
sub. (2). In such case, the inspector or special registration deputy shall perform the duties of the municipal clerk. The elector shall provide identification. If the elector is qualified, he or she shall be permitted to vote. The elector shall mark or punch the ballot and, unless the ballot is utilized with an electronic voting system, the elector shall fold the ballot, and shall give it to the inspector. The inspector shall deposit it directly in the ballot box. Voting machines or ballots utilized with electronic voting systems may only be used by electors voting under this section if they permit voting for president and vice president only.
6.15(4)
(4) Delivery and deposit of ballots.
