He didn’t ask for it and he won’t get a pay raise, but Milwaukee County Clerk Joe Czarnezki’s job now includes running the county Election Commission. Czarnezki said he plans to streamline reporting of election results and get them posted quickly online on election nights, something that hasn’t been done in the past. Czarnezki also is aiming for more timely posting of campaign finance reports by candidates for county offices, another duty of the county election office. “As soon as they are received and verified, (campaign reports) should be scanned and posted on the website,” Czarnezki said Wednesday. Thanks to a provision tucked into a larger bill signed into law last week, the county clerk was designated executive director of the Election Commission. Czarnezki will answer to the existing three-person commission on election matters.
Neither Czarnezki nor the county’s lobbyists requested the law change. It was sought by the bill’s author, Rep. Kathy Bernier (R-Chippewa Falls), chairwoman of the Assembly Committee on Campaigns and Elections.
Bernier, a former county clerk, said she had always thought it odd that Milwaukee County was the only county in the state with an election commission, a decision that dates to 1915. All 71 other counties assign election administration to county clerks.
“I would scratch my head, (wondering) what does an election commission staff do all year long?” Bernier said. “There’s a pretty significant amount of time with little or nothing to do.”
Full Article: Milwaukee County clerk to take over elections.