5.62(4)(ag)(ag) The county clerk or county board of election commissioners shall designate the official primary ballot arrangement for all candidates filing nomination papers in that office.
5.62(4)(ar)
(ar) Within a county the county clerk shall arrange the names of all candidates filing nomination papers with the clerk's office using the same method as that used by the board under
s. 5.60 (1) (b).
5.62(4)(b)
(b) The county board of election commissioners in counties having a population of more than 500,000 shall prepare the official primary ballot. The commissioners shall arrange the names of all candidates for each office whose nomination papers are filed at the county level, using the same method as that used by the elections board under
s. 5.60 (1) (b).
5.62(5)
(5) At the September primary, an elector may vote for the candidates of only one party, or the elector may vote for any of the independent candidates for state office listed; but the elector may not vote for more than one candidate for a single office. A space shall be provided on the ballot for an elector to write in the name of his or her choice as a party candidate for any office, including a party candidate of a party whose name appears on the ballot, column or row designated for independent candidates, as provided in
sub. (1) (b) or
(2) (b), but no space shall be provided to write in the names of independent candidates.
5.62 Cross-reference
Cross Reference: See also s. ElBd 6.04, Wis. adm. code.
5.62 Annotation
The filing of a proper petition by the requisite number of electors in a senate, assembly, or congressional district will qualify the political organization referred to in the petition as a party entitled to a separate ballot within the specific district only for all the state, congressional, legislative, and county offices for which an elector of that district may vote. The petition may be circulated commencing after any November general election and ending on the June 1 immediately prior to the next succeeding September primary. 61 Atty. Gen. 41.
5.64
5.64
General election ballots. At general elections all of the following ballots, when necessary, shall be provided for each ward:
5.64(1)(ag)(ag) Except as authorized in
s. 5.655, there shall be a separate ballot giving the names of all candidates for president and vice president and for statewide, congressional, legislative, and county offices in the same form as prescribed by the board under
s. 7.08 (1) (a).
5.64(1)(ar)1.1. The ballot shall permit an elector to do any of the following:
a. Vote a straight party ticket for president and vice president, whenever those offices are contested, and for all statewide, congressional, legislative, and county offices.
b. Vote for individual candidates for each office.
c. Vote for a person whose name does not appear on the ballot for any office.
5.64(1)(ar)2.
2. When voting for governor and lieutenant governor, the ballot shall permit an elector to vote only for the candidates on one ticket jointly or write in the names of persons in both spaces.
5.64(1)(b)
(b) The names of the candidates on the regular party tickets nominated at the primary or replacements appointed under
s. 8.35 (2) shall appear in a separate column under the party designation. The columns shall be arranged from left to right according to rank, based on the number of votes received by each party's candidate for president or governor at the last general election beginning with the party that received the most votes. To the right of the columns for parties qualifying under
s. 5.62 (1) (b) shall be placed the columns for parties qualifying under
s. 5.62 (2) in the same order in which the parties filed petitions with the board. Any column required under
par. (e) 2. shall be placed next in order. To the right of the party columns shall be a column for the names of independent candidates for each office, or more than one column if the first column does not provide sufficient space for the names of all such candidates.
5.64(1)(d)
(d) The offices shall be arranged beginning with president and vice president or governor and lieutenant governor, whenever these offices are filled, and then the remaining offices in the order designated under
s. 5.62 (3).
5.64(1)(e)1.1. Except as provided in
subd. 2., each candidate's name shall be placed in the column of the party by which nominated or if independent, in a column designated independent and all candidates for the same office shall appear within the same rows on the ballot. If a separate column is provided to write in the names of any party candidates under
subd. 2., the column shall appear before the column designated independent with the spaces provided to write in the names of the candidates for each such party appearing in the same order in which the columns of their parties would appear under
par. (b). Along with the names of the independent candidates shall appear the party or principle of the candidates, if any, in 5 words or less, as shown on their nomination papers. Independent candidates for the same county office shall be listed in the same manner in an order drawn by lot by or under supervision of the county clerk or board of election commissioners. The board shall conduct a redrawing for purposes of determining the arrangement of independent candidates for state office who appeared on the primary ballot in the manner provided in
s. 5.60 (1) (b).
5.64(1)(e)2.
2. There shall be a separate column for the candidates of each party qualifying for that column under
s. 5.62 (1) (b) or
(2), except that if, within any assembly district or county, there are no candidates for any national, state or county office representing such a party who qualify to have their names appear on the ballot under the name of that party within that assembly district, the county clerk or board of election commissioners shall provide a combined separate column that will permit an elector to cast a vote for a write-in candidate of any such party for each national, state and county office whenever that party qualifies to be represented in a separate column but does not qualify under this subdivision. The ballot shall include the name of each party qualifying for a separate column under each office, with the names of the candidates for each such party appearing in the same order in which the columns of the parties would appear under
par. (b).
5.64(1)(eg)
(eg) In the case of balloting for the offices of president and vice president, the names of the candidates shall be placed in the column of the party that nominated them or if independent, in a column designated independent. In each column there shall be one choice for the elector to cast a ballot jointly for both offices.
5.64(1)(em)
(em) The names of the candidates for the offices of president and vice president certified under
s. 8.16 (7) or filed under
s. 8.20 shall appear on the ballot in the form prescribed in
s. 7.08 (2) (a). The names of the presidential electors for the candidates supplied under
ss. 8.18 (2) and
8.20 (2) (d) are not listed on the ballot but a vote for the candidates for president and vice president is a vote for them through their named presidential electors.
5.64(1)(es)
(es) The party candidates shall be arranged consecutively from top to bottom based on the number of votes received by their party's candidate for governor at the last election beginning with the party that received the most votes. The independent president-vice president candidates shall be listed together in an order drawn by lot by or under supervision of the board, following under the party candidates. Along with the names of the independent candidates shall appear the party or principle of the candidates, if any, in 5 words or less, as shown on their nomination papers. Following under the independent candidates, a space shall be left for writing in the names of a candidate for president and vice president.
5.64(1)(f)
(f) In the case of balloting for the office of governor and lieutenant governor, the names of the candidates shall be placed in the party column by which nominated or if independent, in a column designated independent. In each column there shall be one choice for the elector to cast a ballot jointly for both offices.
5.64(1)(g)
(g) Following under the independent candidates for each office, a space shall be provided for the elector to write in the name of a candidate of his or her choice for that office.
5.64(2)(am)(am) There shall be a separate ballot when any proposed constitutional amendment or any other measure or question is submitted to a vote of the people, except as authorized in
s. 5.655. The ballot shall give a concise statement of each question in accordance with the act or resolution directing submission in the same form as prescribed by the board under
s. 7.08 (1) (a). The question may not be worded in such a manner as to require a negative vote to approve a proposition or an affirmative vote to disapprove a proposition. Unless otherwise expressly provided, this ballot form shall be used at all elections when questions are submitted to a vote of the people.
5.64(2)(c)
(c) The official referendum ballot prescribed under this subsection shall be utilized at every election, except that the format shall be altered to the extent provided or required by other laws establishing or authorizing referenda to be conducted. Except as authorized in
s. 5.655, all referenda shall appear on a separate ballot, but more than one referendum question may appear on the same referendum ballot whenever the questions are numbered and all electors voting the ballot are entitled to vote upon all questions appearing thereon. When more than one state referendum is placed on the same ballot, the board shall number the questions in chronological sequence. If the legislature submits questions on different dates, the board shall number the questions sequentially based on the date on which the questions are submitted by the legislature. Except as authorized in
s. 5.655, state and county referenda shall appear on a separate ballot from municipal or special district referenda. The form of all referendum ballots shall be substantially the same as that prescribed by the board under
s. 7.08 (1) (a).
5.65
5.65
Special referendum ballots. Unless otherwise provided, ballots for special referenda shall conform to the format prescribed under
s. 5.64 (2), insofar as applicable.
5.65 History
History: 1983 a. 484;
1999 a. 182.
5.655
5.655
Consolidated ballots. 5.655(1)
(1) Whenever a separate ballot is required to be used, a municipality may use a single ballot to facilitate the use of voting machines or an electronic voting system or, if the municipality employs paper ballots, may use a consolidated paper ballot that is authorized under
sub. (2). If a municipality uses a single ballot in lieu of separate ballots, the ballot shall include a separate column or row for any office, referendum or party for which a separate ballot is required by law and the ballot shall be distributed only to electors who are eligible to vote for all of the offices and referenda appearing on the ballot.
5.655(2)
(2) Whenever a municipality employing paper ballots is required to utilize separate ballots for certain offices, referenda or parties at an election, the municipality may, with the approval of the county clerk or board of election commissioners of each county in which there is located any portion of the municipality where one or more electors reside, substitute a single consolidated paper ballot or a ballot that is designed to be utilized with an electronic voting system, if the ballot contains all of the applicable information required to be provided for paper ballots at that election.
5.655(3)
(3) The board shall prescribe notices and instructions to be given to electors who use a ballot that is authorized under
sub. (2) in lieu of any notices and instructions that are applicable only to municipalities employing separate paper ballots.
5.655 History
History: 1999 a. 182.
5.66
5.66
Number of ballots. 5.66(1)(1) For local elections, where necessary, municipal clerks shall have sufficient ballots printed or otherwise prepared whenever a voting system does not utilize printed ballots to assure a ballot for all electors or voting machines. For all other elections the municipal clerks shall certify to their county clerk, on the first day of the 2nd month preceding the month in which the primary is held, the approximate number of electors in the municipality. The county clerk shall total these estimates and order a sufficient supply to assure ballots for all electors and voting machines.
5.66(2)
(2) The county clerk or board of election commissioners shall print a sufficient number of sample ballots. The municipal clerk or board of election commissioners shall print sample ballots whenever the municipality prepares ballots under
s. 7.15 (2) (b) or
(c). Sample ballots shall be printed on nonwhite colored paper and shall be overprinted "SAMPLE". Voting machine sample ballots shall be a reduced size diagram of the face of the board or screen inside the voting machine with all candidates, issues and voting instructions as they will appear on the official ballot. Sample ballots to be used with an electronic voting system in which ballots that are distributed to electors are used shall be an actual size copy of the ballot. The clerk or board of election commissioners printing the ballots shall distribute the samples approximately as follows: 45% shall be kept in the clerk's or board's office and distributed to electors requesting them; 45% shall be sent to the municipalities, or, if the municipality prints ballots, 45% shall be sent to the county for distribution to the electors; and 10% shall be reserved to be sent to the polling places by municipalities in proportion to the number certified in
sub. (1) and made available to electors at the polls on election day.
5.68
5.68
Cost of elections. 5.68(1)(1) The cost of acquisition of ballot boxes and voting booths, voting machines or electronic voting systems and regular maintenance thereof shall be borne by the municipalities in which the boxes, booths, machines or systems are used.
5.68(2)
(2) Except as otherwise expressly provided, all costs for ballots, supplies, notices and any other materials necessary in preparing or conducting any election shall be paid for by the county or municipality whose clerk or board of election commissioners is responsible for providing them. If a ballot is prepared for a school, technical college, sewerage or sanitary district, the district shall pay for the cost of the ballot. If no other level of government is involved in a school, technical college, sewerage or sanitary district election, the district shall pay for all costs of the ballots, supplies, notices and other materials. If ballots, supplies, notices or other materials are used for elections within more than one unit of local government, the costs shall be proportionately divided between the units of local government involved in the election. In a 1st class city, all costs otherwise attributable to a school district shall be paid by the city.
5.68(3)
(3) If voting machines are used or if an electronic voting system is used in which all candidates and referenda appear on the same ballot, the ballots for all national, state and county offices and for county and state referenda shall be prepared and paid for by the county wherein they are used. If the voting machine or electronic voting system ballot includes a municipal or school, technical college, sewerage or sanitary district ballot, the cost of that portion of the ballot shall be reimbursed to the county or paid for by the municipality or district, except as provided in a 1st class city school district under
sub. (2).
5.68(3m)
(3m) The election administration council shall provide guidance to local units of government concerning the procurement of election apparatus, ballots, ballot forms, materials, and supplies for use in elections in this state to help ensure that competitive prices are obtained by those units of government.
5.68(4)
(4) Except as provided under
sub. (7), the cost of compensation of election officials and trainees shall be borne in the manner provided in
s. 7.03.
5.68(5)
(5) If a charge is made for the use of a polling place, the charge shall be paid by the municipality establishing the polling place under
s. 5.25 (2) unless the polling place is used to conduct a special election that is called by a unit of government other than the state or the municipality establishing the polling place and the special election is not held concurrently with an election specified in
s. 5.02 (5),
(18),
(21) or
(22). In such case the charge shall be paid by the unit of government that calls the special election.
5.68(6)
(6) The clerk of each county or municipality shall submit an invoice to the clerk of each municipality or district which is responsible for payment of election costs under this section. The municipality or district shall make payment to the county or municipal treasurer.
5.68(7)
(7) Any municipality that maintained polling hours beginning later than 7 a.m. prior to April 29, 2006, and that incurs additional costs to adjust its polling hours to begin at 7 a.m. at any election held after April 29, 2006, may file a claim with the board for reimbursement of those costs. The claim shall be accompanied by appropriate substantiation of all costs incurred. The board shall audit the claim and, if the board finds that the costs have been incurred by the municipality, and the costs would not have been incurred but for the requirement to open polling places at 7 a.m., the board shall reimburse the municipality for those costs. No claim is payable under this subsection unless the claim is filed with the board, together with appropriate substantiation, within 60 days following the date on which the costs are incurred.
5.72
5.72
Correcting ballot errors. 5.72(1)
(1) As soon as possible after ballots are delivered to the county clerk or to the municipal clerk if the municipality is preparing ballots under
s. 7.15 (2), but not later than 3 weeks before any election relating to a state or national office or statewide referendum, the county or municipal clerk preparing the ballots shall submit one copy of each ballot to the board for review of possible errors. If the contractor preparing the ballots supplies proofs in advance of ballot preparation, the clerk shall submit one copy of the proofs in lieu of actual ballots. If a voting machine ballot or other ballot combining local candidates or referenda with state or national candidates or referenda is used, the entire ballot shall be submitted, but if ballots intended for distribution to electors are used, only those ballots relating to state or national offices and statewide referenda need be submitted. This subsection does not require delay of ballot distribution or mailing of absentee ballots.
5.72(2)
(2) The board shall review ballots and proof copies submitted under
sub. (1) and shall notify the county and municipal clerk of any error as soon as possible but in no event later than 7 days after submission. The clerk is not required to correct a ballot error upon receipt of notice of the error, unless ordered to do so under
sub. (3) or
s. 5.06 (6).
5.72(3)
(3) Whenever an affidavit is filed by the board or any elector alleging an error or omission in the preparation of a ballot, the circuit court for the county where the ballot is proposed to be used or its presiding judge, by order, may summarily require a county or municipal clerk to correct the error, or show cause why it should not be corrected and, by order, after the hearing, have the correction made.
5.72 History
History: 1979 c. 260;
1979 c. 311 s.
19;
1979 c. 355 ss.
9,
10; Stats. 1979 s. 5.72;
1981 c. 377;
1983 a. 484.
ELECTRONIC VOTING SYSTEMS
5.76
5.76
Adoption, experimentation or discontinuance of systems. The governing body or board of election commissioners of any municipality may by ordinance or resolution adopt, experiment with, or discontinue any electronic voting system authorized by this subchapter and approved under
s. 5.91 for use in this state, and may purchase or lease materials or equipment for such system to be used in all or some of the wards within its jurisdiction, either exclusively in combination with mechanical voting machines, or in combination with paper ballots where such ballots are authorized to be used.
5.76 History
History: 1979 c. 311;
1985 a. 304.
5.76 Cross-reference
Cross Reference: See also ch. ElBd 7, Wis. adm. code.
5.77
5.77
Applicable procedures. 5.77(1)
(1) So far as applicable, the procedure provided for voting paper ballots applies when an electronic voting system employing the use of ballots distributed to electors is used.
5.77(2)
(2) So far as applicable, the procedure provided for voting with mechanical voting machines applies when an electronic voting system employing the use of electronic voting machines is used.
5.77 History
History: 1979 c. 311.
5.77 Cross-reference
Cross Reference: See also ch. ElBd 7, Wis. adm. code.
5.78
5.78
Voting booths. At polling places where an electronic voting system employing the use of ballots distributed to electors is used, the municipality shall supply a sufficient number of voting booths for the use of electors as provided in
s. 5.35 (2).
5.78 History
History: 1979 c. 311.
5.79
5.79
Instruction of electors. At polling places where an electronic voting system employing the use of ballots and voting devices is used, the election officials shall offer each elector instruction in the operation of the voting device and ballot before the elector enters the voting booth. No instructions may be given after the elector has entered the voting booth, except as authorized under
s. 6.82 (2). All instructions shall be given by election officials in such a manner that they may be observed by other persons in the polling place.
5.79 History
History: 1979 c. 311;
2001 a. 16.
5.80
5.80
Demonstrator electronic voting system. When an electronic voting system is used in a forthcoming election, the municipal clerk may provide, for the purpose of instructing electors in the election, one or more demonstrator electronic voting systems using the names of fictitious candidates or fictitious questions for placement in any public building within the municipality in which the election occurs. If such placement of a demonstrator takes place it shall be made available at least 30 days before the election.
5.80 History
History: 1979 c. 311.
5.81
5.81
Ballot information; arrangement; absentee ballots. 5.81(1)(1) Whenever the statutes provide for the use of separate ballots or columns or rows for offices, parties or referenda, and an electronic voting system in which ballots are distributed to electors is used at a polling place, a single ballot may be used for all offices, referenda and parties. The ballot information, whether placed on the ballot or on the voting device, shall, as far as practicable, be grouped and ordered in the same manner as provided for other ballots under this chapter, except that the information on the ballot need not be in separate columns or rows.
5.81(3)
(3) If a municipality utilizes an electronic voting system in which ballots distributed to electors are employed, absentee ballots may consist of ballots utilized with the system or paper ballots and envelopes voted in person in the office of the municipal clerk or voted by mail.
5.81(4)
(4) In partisan primary elections, if a ballot contains the names of candidates of more than one party or the names of party candidates and independent candidates, it shall provide a space for electors to designate a party preference or a preference for the independent candidates. Failure to designate a preference does not invalidate any votes cast by an elector, except as provided in
s. 7.50 (1) (d).
5.82
5.82
Write-in ballots. If the ballot employed by a municipality does not provide a space for write-in votes, the municipality shall provide a separate write-in ballot, which may be in the form of a paper ballot, to permit electors to write in the names of persons whose names are not on the ballot whenever write-in votes are authorized.
5.83
5.83
Preparation for use of voting devices; comparison of ballots. Where voting devices are used at a polling place, the municipal clerk shall cause the voting devices to be put in order, set, adjusted and made ready for voting when delivered to the polling place. Before the opening of the polls the inspectors shall compare the ballots used in the voting devices with the sample ballots furnished and see that the names, numbers and letters thereon agree and shall certify thereto on forms provided by the board.
5.83 History
History: 1979 c. 311.
5.84
5.84
Testing of equipment; requirements for programs and ballots. 5.84(1)(1) Where any municipality employs an electronic voting system which utilizes automatic tabulating equipment, either at the polling place or at a central counting location, the municipal clerk shall, on any day not more than 10 days prior to the election day on which the equipment is to be utilized, have the equipment tested to ascertain that it will correctly count the votes cast for all offices and on all measures. Public notice of the time and place of the test shall be given by the clerk at least 48 hours prior to the test by publication of a class 1 notice under
ch. 985 in one or more newspapers published within the municipality if a newspaper is published therein, otherwise in a newspaper of general circulation therein. The test shall be open to the public. The test shall be conducted by processing a preaudited group of ballots so marked as to record a predetermined number of valid votes for each candidate and on each referendum. The test shall include for each office one or more ballots which have votes in excess of the number allowed by law and, for a partisan primary election, one or more ballots which have votes cast for candidates of more than one recognized political party, in order to test the ability of the automatic tabulating equipment to reject such votes. If any error is detected, the municipal clerk shall ascertain the cause and correct the error. The clerk shall make an errorless count before the automatic tabulating equipment is approved by the clerk for use in the election.
5.84(2)
(2) Before beginning the ballot count at each polling place or at the central counting location, the election officials shall witness a test of the automatic tabulating equipment by engaging the printing mechanism and securing a printed result showing a zero count for every candidate and referendum. After the completion of the count, the ballots and programs used shall be sealed and retained under the custody of the municipal clerk in a secure location.
5.85
5.85
Receiving, counting, tallying and return of ballots. 5.85(1)(1) At any polling place at which an electronic voting system is utilized, the following procedures for receiving, counting, tallying and return of the ballots shall be used. Whenever paper ballots are utilized at a polling place in combination with ballots employed in an electronic voting system, the paper ballots shall be deposited in a separate ballot box or boxes, according to the types of ballots used. For the purpose of transporting the ballots or the record of the votes cast, the municipal clerk shall provide a secure container for each polling place. At each polling place, the applicable portions of the procedure prescribed for initiating the canvass under
s. 7.51 (1) and
(2) shall be performed, except that no count of the ballots, except write-in votes and paper ballots used for absentee voting and other purposes authorized by law, may be performed at a polling place if a central counting location is designated for the counting of ballots at that polling place by the municipality.
