Wisconsin: Wisconsin Rapids mayor in hot water over ballot photo | Associated Press

Add a Wisconsin mayor to the list of voters who violated the state’s election law prohibiting sharing pictures of completed ballots. Wisconsin Rapids Mayor Zach Vruwink, 26, faces a possible felony after posting online a picture of his ballot in the primary for his re-election. A City Council candidate saw the post and filed a complaint with the district attorney, who was debating moving forward with charges as of Thursday. Despite warnings from the Government Accountability Board — which governs elections in Wisconsin — the issue has come up in multiple elections in the last few years as voters photograph their ballots and share them on social media. “I understand the law’s intent is to protect the integrity of the voting process,” Vruwink wrote in a text message. “This post was in no way election fraud.”

Wisconsin: Elections official testifies in voter ID case | Journal Times

One of the biggest challenges in rolling out Wisconsin’s 2011 photo voter ID law was training the state’s unusually large number of election clerks, a top elections official testified Thursday during a federal hearing over the stalled law. Kevin Kennedy, the head of the state’s Government Accountability Board, said there were about 1,850 clerks in Wisconsin at the time the law was passed. That’s one-sixth the number of clerks in the entire nation, he noted. An attorney asked Kennedy whether it was difficult to train so many workers on the details of the new law. “It’s never an easy process,” he said, shaking his head. Wisconsin is one of a handful of states that administers its elections at the local level, Reid Magney, a Government Accountability Board spokesman, told The Associated Press. Many states run elections at the county level, but Wisconsin defers control to the state’s 1,852 cities, towns and villages. That means the state elections board has to train all 1,852 clerks, who then instruct 30,000 poll workers, Magney said.

Wisconsin: Walker withdraws elections board nomination | Associated Press

Gov. Scott Walker wants to replace, without explanation, the former judge who led the nonpartisan elections board during Walker’s recall in 2012, raising questions about his motives for the unusual move. Walker’s office today provided The Associated Press with a copy of the governor’s Oct. 24 letter withdrawing the nomination for Senate confirmation of Judge David Deininger. Walker spokesman Tom Evenson had no comment on why the governor made the move. A Senate committee was to vote on the nomination Tuesday. “I feel like I’ve been fired and I don’t know why,” said Deininger, a former Republican lawmaker who was first appointed to the Government Accountability Board in 2008 by then-Gov. Jim Doyle, a Democrat. The board was established to be a nonpartisan arbiter of the state’s election and ethics laws, but some of its decisions have so angered Republicans they have called for it to be abolished and reconstituted.

Wisconsin: Election bills raise concerns | Wisconsin Radio Network

Legislation proposed by a Republican lawmaker is raising some issues for groups that seek to promote voting rights in Wisconsin. Andrea Kaminski with the League of Women Voters says under terms of one of the bills from state Senator Mary Lazich (R-New Berline), if a busy poll worker forgets to ask a voter to sign the poll book, another ballot could be “drawn down” in the case of a recount. “You could sign the poll book, do everything right, but nontheless, if a poll worker forgot to ask someone else to sign the poll book, your ballot could be removed,” Kaminski says. She says if, for example, five people at a given location don’t sign the poll book and five ballots are pulled, “it’s very unlikely that those five ballots will be the those five people who didn’t sign the poll book. The bill from Lazich is SB 266.

Wisconsin: Government Accountability Board has no plans to discipline tardy election clerks | Wisconsin Reporter

Linda Terry probably won’t get her wish. The Raymond clerk has overseen Wisconsin elections for the past 20 years, first in Kenosha County and now in Racine County. She wants the Legislature to stop futzing with election laws. “I think the clerks know what they’re doing, it’s everybody else that doesn’t,” Terry said with a laugh. County and municipal clerks have taken a lot of heat the past couple years, as Wisconsin’s seemingly unending election cycles have highlighted the downside of the most decentralized election system in the country. Military ballots have gone out late. Lawsuits have been threatened and filed. Voter registration rolls haven’t been properly updated. Some of the problems have been attributed to the series of recalls, recounts, special and regular elections, turning part-time municipal clerk jobs into full-time gigs. The election schedule has returned to normal, and watchdogs have had time to assess how well or how poorly Wisconsin elections are run. So, what’s changing? Not much.

Wisconsin: Inactive voters removed from polling lists | The Marshfield News-Herald

Hundreds of thousands of inactive Wisconsin voters have been removed from local voting rolls as government officials undergo regular maintenance. More than 220,000 voters were removed in May by the Government Accountability Board, the nonpartisan agency tasked with overseeing the state’s elections and campaign finance laws. “Local clerks have recorded who all voted in November, and who didn’t. We can see who hasn’t voted in the last four years, and those people get postcards,” said Reid Magney, a GAB spokesman. If voters didn’t respond to the postcard mailed to their address, they are listed as inactive voters and removed from local voting rolls. The GAB conducts this regular maintenance of voting rolls during odd-numbered years after a presidential or gubernatorial election.

Wisconsin: Assembly passes voting bill allowing online voter registration | WXOW

The Wisconsin State Assembly has passed a bill that calls for allowing Wisconsin electors to register to vote online. Assembly Bill 225 passed the lower chamber on a voice vote Wednesday. It now heads to the State Senate. Online registrants would need to input their name, date of birth and state identification card or driver’s license number into a secure web site run by the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board. The GAB would then work with the Department of Transportation to obtain the “e-signature” from that license or state ID to use in place of an elector signing the necessary registration form. Under current law, voters can register by mail or in person but not online.

Wisconsin: Assembly Speaker Robin Vos wants quick action on elections bill – State elections board wants go-slow approach | Journal Sentinel

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos plans to proceed quickly with a wide-ranging election reform bill despite objections from the state elections board. “Our main message to the committee today is please slow down,” said Michael Haas, elections director for the Government Accountability Board. “The legislation addresses some significant policy areas of election and campaign finance…that would benefit from more vetting.” But Vos, a Rochester Republican, said quick passage is necessary to enact election safeguards and properly train poll workers before the next election in spring 2014. “We adjourn on June 30, so it is my intention to get a bill passed by June 30,” Vos said, referring to the end of the Assembly’s floor period. He said he is happy to discuss components of the bill in a bipartisan fashion but stressed the need for additional safeguards in election law.

Wisconsin: Elections board agrees to ask lawmakers for absentee voting rule changes | Associated Press

Wisconsin election officials on Tuesday agreed to ask the Legislature to revamp the state’s absentee voting regulations by streamlining request deadlines, expanding electronic ballot access for overseas voters and implementing other changes. The state Government Accountability Board agreed after only brief discussion to make the recommendations at the request of a municipal clerk task force. That panel contends the state’s absentee voting requirements have grown too complicated and confusing over the years.

Wisconsin: Republicans push for changes to election observer, local recall laws | Chippewa Herald

Election observers could get far closer to the tables where poll workers gather information from voters on Election Day under a bill introduced by a group of Assembly Republicans late last week, which already had a public hearing on Tuesday. At the campaigns and elections committee hearing, lawmakers also considered GOP-authored legislation that would raise the bar for recalling local officials. Under the election observer bill, chief inspectors and municipal clerks would be required to designate areas for observers at the polls that are within five feet of the tables where voters provide their names and addresses, as well as within five feet of the tables where people can register to vote.

Wisconsin: Website crash, software woes blamed for late election returns Tuesday | Sheboygan Press

As election returns came in Tuesday night, those interested in the outcome — candidates, their supporters and members of the media — were left waiting as the Sheboygan County website failed to update with election returns for hours. Final results weren’t available until around midnight, and even then the website wasn’t fully updated. Blame technology. The county experienced a website crash that County Clerk Jon Dolson said the county’s IT department still has yet to fully understand. He said the third party that operates the new county website was still investigating the issue on Wednesday.

Wisconsin: Milwaukee voters overwhelmingly back retaining same-day voter registration | Journal Sentinel

Voters in Milwaukee overwhelmingly approved an advisory referendum Tuesday that backs the right to register at the polls on election day. With 97% of the units reporting, the measure was winning 73%-27%. A number of voter rights groups had backed putting the measure on the ballot in January, including Milwaukee Inner-city Congregations Allied for Hope, One Wisconsin Now and United Wisconsin. The Common Council, with Ald. Milele Coggs as the lead sponsor, approved the referendum on a 11-4 vote in mid-January. Before Tuesday’s vote, proponents of same-day voting were hoping for a large turnout and victory margin as a means of sending a message to Republican legislators not to fiddle with the law. It was unclear what Tuesday’s outcome will mean to the future of same-day registration. Nine members of the council doubled down this week, issuing a statement urging Milwaukee voters to express their opinion on same-day registration and voting.

Wisconsin: Report says nding Election Day voter registration would cost up to $14.5 million | Wisconsin State Journal

Ending Wisconsin’s practice of allowing people to register to vote on Election Day would cost up to $14.5 million when the expenses of several state agencies are taken into account, a spokesman for the state Government Accountability Board said Monday. Some Republicans have pushed for an earlier registration deadline, saying it would make it harder for anyone to vote illegally. The staff of the GAB, which oversees the state’s elections, studied the idea and in a preliminary report in December estimated its costs for the first two years after a change would increase by $5.2 million. The estimate increased dramatically Monday for two reasons. Since December, four affected state departments — transportation, workforce development, health services and children and families — have submitted their own cost estimates totaling between $9.9 million and $10.5 million, said GAB spokesman Reid Magney. Meanwhile, GAB staff has determined that depending on how state laws were changed, the election agency’s main costs could be held to $3.9 million.

Wisconsin: Battle brews over same-day voter registration | Fox11

The debate over same-day voter registration surfaced again in the area Tuesday, even though the governor has backed off the idea. Government Accountability Board reports so far show a hefty cost to stop same-day voter registration. Its report released in December showed a $5 million initial cost and $1 million a year after that. Without same-day registration, supporters claim registration sites would need to be set up at other agencies.

Editorials: Election-day registration works here | Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Don’t look now, but an ongoing battle over how Wisconsinites vote opened on a new front. After signing into law a series of changes to how state elections are run, Gov. Scott Walker said he was considering doing away with election-day registration – or EDR, as its known – the practice of letting voters register on the same day they vote. Walker has since backed away from that idea, pointing to a Government Accountability Board report that showed doing away with EDR would be costly. But it would be a mistake for other reasons as well, one that runs contrary to our state’s fine traditions and will add an unnecessary barrier to voting. The concerns the governor raised about EDR actually would become much worse if it were eliminated.

Editorials: Wisconsin Governor Walker wise to avoid voting distraction | Sheboygan Press

Gov. Scott Walker has made it pretty clear what his priorities are: creating jobs and improving worker skills so that they match job openings. Eliminating same-day voter registration is not a priority. Walker last week told Bill Lueders of the Wisconsin Center for Investigation that he will veto any bill that calls for ending same-day registration “if it has a price tag.” That should settle the issue for now. Distractions abound for public officials, especially for such highly placed ones as governors and presidents. Thanks to technology and the ubiquity of recording devices, no comment goes unchallenged, or unheard.

Wisconsin: Walker vows veto of same-day voter registration ban | Sheboygan Press

Gov. Scott Walker on Wednesday apparently drove the final nail into the coffin of calls to end same-day voter registration in Wisconsin, vowing to veto any such bill that imposed additional costs. “If it has a price tag, absolutely,” Walker told the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism in an interview at the Executive Residence, when asked if he would use his veto pen. “There’s no way we’re spending money on something like that.” The idea of ending same-day voter registration gained currency after Walker made a speech in California last month in which he suggested ending the state’s practice of letting voters register on Election Day, citing the burden it placed on poll workers. Two Republican lawmakers began seeking sponsors on a bill to accomplish this in the GOP-controlled state Legislature. But the idea drew heavy opposition from critics, including some local election officials, and the state Government Accountability Board estimated it would cost the state $5.2 million to develop alternative registration systems required by federal law.

Wisconsin: GAB: Four state agencies could be sued if same day voter registration dropped | WSAU

Four state agencies which give out public benefits could be sued if Wisconsin drops Election Day voter registration. Government Accountability Board attorney Mike Haas told the panel Tuesday the departments of Transportation, Health Services, Children and Families, and Workforce Development would probably face lawsuits at some time. That’s because they would be required to carry out the federal Motor Voter act, from which the Badger State is currently exempt because it has same-day registration.

Wisconsin: State would need to spend $1.2M to check for illegal voters, report says | Wisconsin State Journal

Wisconsin would need to spend $1.2 million to begin checking federal databases for names of non-citizens who should be removed from voter registration lists, says a report from the state’s election agency. Two other states have found relatively few illegal voters on the lists, and there’s no reason to suspect more would be detected in Wisconsin, an agency spokesman said Monday. The Government Accountability Board is to decide Tuesday on sending the staff report to the state Legislature, which would need to enact new laws before the agency could use the federal Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements program.

Wisconsin: Both sides saw big same-day voter registration numbers | Journal Sentinel

State election records show that voters in Wisconsin’s Democratic-leaning counties have been more likely to register to vote at the polls, but voters in Republican-leaning areas also made heavy use of the state’s same-day registration law. The Wisconsin State Journal reported that in three recent statewide elections, one in eight ballots came from voters who registered that same day, according to data from the Government Accountability Board. The data was for the November 2008 and November 2010 elections, and the June 2012 gubernatorial recall election.

Wisconsin: Records show 1 in 8 register on voting day | madison.com

State election records show that voters in Wisconsin’s Democratic-leaning counties have been more likely to register to vote at the polls, but voters in Republican-leaning areas also made heavy use of the state’s same-day registration law. The Wisconsin State Journal reported that in three recent statewide elections, one in eight ballots came from voters who registered that same day, according to data from the Government Accountability Board. The data was for the November 2008 and November 2010 elections, and the June 2012 gubernatorial recall election.

Wisconsin: Ending same-day voter registration would cost $5.2 million, board finds | Journal Sentinel

Ending election-day registration will cost the state $5.2 million or more initially, won’t reduce the administrative work of clerks and will still allow some people to register at the polls because of a federal law. Those details were included in a report sent to lawmakers Friday by the Government Accountability Board, which runs state elections. Rep. Joel Kleefisch (R-Oconomowoc) and Sen. Alberta Darling (R-River Hills) are working on a bill to end the ability of voters to register to vote at the polls. GOP Gov. Scott Walker supports the idea, but Senate President Mike Ellis (R-Neenah) has cautioned that Republicans who control the Legislature have not yet decided what they want to do on the matter.

Wisconsin: Walker says ending same-day registration too costly | JSOnline

Gov. Scott Walker said Wednesday that a Government Accountability Board report that says it would cost the state $5.2 million to end the state’s same-day registration law convinced him that he would not sign such a bill. “There is no way I’m signing a bill that costs that kind of money,” Walker told reporters. Walker cited a report by the state’s Government Accountability Board that concluded it would cost $5.2 million, and would do nothing to end the administrative work of clerks around the state. Walker said that, in light of the GAB report, he didn’t think members of the Legislature would even try to approve a bill to end the same-day registration law.

Wisconsin: Citizens unite to defend same day voter registration | Milwaukee Courier Weekly Newspaper

In response to Governor Walker’s recent plans to again attack voting rights, members of the African-American Civic Engagement Roundtable, joined by Mayor Tom Barrett, Neil Albrecht (Executive Director of the city of Milwaukee’s Election Commission), State Representative Sandy Pasch, State Representative Jon Richards, and other community partners held a press conference on Wednesday morning to speak out against public comments made by Walker that support the elimination of same day registration in Wisconsin.

Wisconsin: Incoming Senate leader favors political appointees over judges on GAB | Journal Sentinel

The state Senate’s incoming leader said Monday that he would like to take retired judges off Wisconsin’s nonpartisan elections and ethics board and replace them with political appointees. Sen. Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau), who becomes Senate majority leader in January, said he believes that the state Government Accountability Board has made decisions favoring Democrats and that putting political appointees on the board would “strike more of a balance.” “GAB, it’s not working the way it’s supposed to,” Fitzgerald said. A professor specializing in election law who has studied the accountability board bemoaned the proposal. “I think that’s about the worst idea I’ve heard this year,” said Daniel Tokaji, a professor at Ohio State University Moritz College of Law who has written about Wisconsin’s accountability board.

Editorials: Wisconsin’s election day registration strengthens democracy | madison.com

For 36 years, Wisconsin has had election day voter registration. Gov. Scott Walker, in a recent speech in California, advocated ending election day registration. The 1976 legislation establishing it states: “The Legislature finds that the vote is the single most critical act in our democratic system of government.” It further states: “Therefore, pursuant to the policy of this state and nation to ensure all people the right to vote, the Legislature finds it imperative to expand voter registration procedures.” In March of 2011 the nonpartisan Wisconsin Government Accountability Board unanimously reaffirmed the value of election day registration (EDR). They based this not only on the convenience provided to voters, but also the financial savings to state and local governments, and the extra burden that would be placed on municipal clerks and poll workers should EDR be eliminated.

Wisconsin: Romney campaign sues over absentee ballots in Wisconsin | Christian Science Monitor

Both presidential campaigns are closely watching states’ election officials for any ballot or voting-law irregularities. The Romney team is the latest to sue, over Wisconsin’s handling of absentee ballots for residents abroad. The Mitt Romney campaign has filed a federal lawsuit in Wisconsin seeking a five-day extension for absentee voters overseas and in the military. The campaign for the Republican presidential candidate is concerned about 44 ballots that the state’s Government Accountability Board says were sent out by local election officials after the Sept. 22 deadline. Under federal election law, all ballots are to be returned by Nov. 9 (three days after the general election); the Romney campaign wants that deadline pushed back to Nov. 14 for overseas absentee ballots.

Wisconsin: Wisconsin Election Board will not seek extension in absentee ballot returns | The Badger Herald

The state’s election board sent a letter to former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney’s campaign announcing the board will not go to the courts to ask for an extension for some absentee ballots to be turned in. The letter comes after the Government Accountability Board announced this week that 37 absentee ballots to overseas and military voters were sent out past the required deadline. This prompted a response from the Romney campaign, which told the board there should be an extension in the deadline for those voters to return their ballots. “I am writing to express my concern regarding your office’s attention to the voting rights of men and women in uniforms, and to urge you to take immediate action to correct recent violations of military voting rights,” the Romney campaign told the GAB in a letter. President Barack Obama’s reelection campaign agreed with Romney that it was important to see whether the voters were being denied their right to vote, United Council Governmental Relations Director Analiese Eicher said. She assured all votes would be counted.

National: Romney seeks extended deadline for overseas voters | The Detroit News

Working to broaden his popularity among military veterans, Republican Mitt Romney’s campaign has sent letters to election officials in Wisconsin, Mississippi and Vermont demanding that the deadline for receiving ballots from military and overseas voters be extended. The letters sent in recent days on Romney’s behalf by former U.S. Veterans Affairs Secretary Anthony Principi charge that election officials in the states missed the Sept. 22 deadline for mailing some ballots to overseas and military voters. A fourth letter was to be sent Tuesday to Michigan officials, according to Romney campaign spokesman Ryan Williams. The campaign is actively monitoring state and local election officials across the country, he said. “We want to ensure that our fighting men and women overseas have the right to vote in the time that is given under federal law,” Williams said. “We’re doing it across the country in both red states and blue state and battleground states.”

Wisconsin: Wisconsin recall elections cost $13.5 million | Journal Times

Gov. Scott Walker’s June recall election and the primary held a month before it cost taxpayers more than $13 million, the board that oversees elections in Wisconsin reported Friday. The Government Accountability Board stressed that its findings were merely an estimate and not audited. The figures were reported at lawmakers’ request. State Rep. Robin Vos, a Republican critic of the recalls and the presumptive next speaker of the Assembly, said he’s “more committed than ever to recall the recalls” in Wisconsin. He called the $13.5 million price tag an “outrage.” Vos, currently co-chair of the Legislature’s budget-writing committee, said he will introduced a constitutional amendment that would only allow elected officials to be recalled if they committed a crime or malfeasance in office.