Wisconsin: Clerks say eliminating same-day voter registration would create more difficulties | Lacrosse Tribune

Gov. Scott Walker said he was only looking out for beleaguered pollworkers when he suggested during a talk in California earlier this month that Wisconsin should consider getting rid of same-day voter registration. But the state’s municipal clerks — the ones who run elections — are not looking to be relieved of the extra work, said Diane Hermann-Brown, election communications chairwoman for the Wisconsin Municipal Clerks’ Association. In fact, eliminating the practice would create a “heavy burden” on municipalities and the state, said Hermann-Brown, who is the city clerk in Sun Prairie. “There’s no way we’d be in favor of that,” she said.

Wisconsin: Clerks say small-town poll workers may face shocked voters over new ID law | GazetteXtra

In the small towns of Walworth and Rock counties, voters and poll workers usually know each other, their kids and their kin. The friendly familiarity that clerks say has suppressed voter fraud might turn to hard feelings when photo identification becomes a voting requirement for the 2012 spring elections.

On the other hand, showing photo identification could prevent occasional misunderstandings by elderly, hard-of-hearing poll workers.

Wisconsin: Election officials wary over cost, implementation of Wisconsin voter ID bill | LaCrosse Tribune

Election officials across Wisconsin are bracing for a difficult transition as the state rushes into place new rules for voting signed into law by Gov. Scott Walker Wednesday — including a controversial measure requiring voters to use photo identification.

Passage of the law, which has been discussed by Republicans for more than a decade, means those charged with enforcing it have less than two months to develop and implement the training needed to handle polls in the coming recall elections.

“This will be a huge undertaking, to get everything and everybody ready,” said Diane Hermann-Brown, Sun Prairie city clerk and president of the Wisconsin Municipal Clerks Association. “We still have questions about how this will work.”