By LeAnn R. Ralph
COLFAX — State Senator Kathy Bernier (R-Chippewa Falls) has introduced several election bills that she says will help take some of the pressure off municipal clerks.
Senator Bernier (Senate District 23) was among the speakers on a panel discussion about the 2022 spring election sponsored by the League of Women Voters — Greater Chippewa Valley on January 31.
The panel discussion, offered over the Zoom platform, also included Sue McDonald, Eau Claire County Clerk; Cheryl Miller, clerk in the Town of Red Cedar); and LWV members Lori Miller and Jane Pedersen, who are members of the voters’ services committee.
Senator Bernier, who served as county clerk in Chippewa County for more than 10 years, is chair of the Committee on Elections, Election Process Reform and Ethics.
The bills that were introduced the Friday before the January 31 forum were based on the Legislative Audit Bureau’s recommendations following the 2020 elections, she said.
The recommendations are intended to result in a more consistent and structured election process, Senator Bernier said.
The guidance given to municipal clerks on the 2020 elections by the Wisconsin Elections Commission does not have the force of law, she said.
The bills deal with pre-election, the election itself and post-election, and none of the bills would make it harder to vote, do not disenfranchise any voters, and do not suppress the right to vote or deny the right to vote, Senator Bernier said.
The bills do focus on administrative functions to provide clarity, checks and balances, and make it clear that voting machines should never be connected to the Internet, she said, noting that when the votes are tabulated, the voting machines are “connected” but it is more like a FAX between the polling place and the county clerk’s office.
Part of the proposed legislation focuses on the procedure to follow if a municipal clerk leaves a position just prior to an election. The Wisconsin Elections Commission is not always aware when a clerk leaves, so the governmental body must inform the WEC when there is a vacancy, and the new clerk must have three hours of election training, Senator Bernier said.
The proposed legislation also prohibits third party donations to help fund elections. The state must provide funding to local governments for elections, she said.
In addition, the proposed legislation deals with special voting deputies for nursing homes and assisted living facilities and how those deputies can assist residents with voting. The bills deal with absentee ballot envelopes, too, and if there is a problem with the envelope, such as the witness section, then the clerk cannot “cure” or fix an address, for example, but instead, must inform the voter, Senator Bernier said.
After the election, the proposed legislation includes a more systematic approach to auditing election equipment when the county board of canvassers meet, she said.
The bi-partisan Wisconsin Elections Commission was created in 2015 by the Wisconsin Legislature to administer and enforce election law. The state Legislature also created the Wisconsin Ethics Commission to administer laws related to campaign finance, ethics and lobbying. The two commissions replaced the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board, which in 2008 replaced the Wisconsin Elections Board and Wisconsin Ethics Board, according to online sources.
Indefinitely confined
Regarding people who are “indefinitely confined,” the proposed legislation states they must use an application form to apply for indefinitely confined status, and if nothing changes from year to year, then people do not need to keep applying for being designated as “indefinitely confined,” Senator Bernier said.
According to a news release from Senator Bernier, those who are applying for indefinitely confined status must “provide a current photo ID if one is available to them. If not, it requires them to submit that last four digits of their Social Security number along with a witness’s signature attesting to their identity.”
The bills had just started being circulated to obtain co-sponsors, and Senator Bernier said she expected the state Assembly and the Senate would vote on them at some point in the not-too-distant future.
Senator Bernier said she and her committee members were in frequent contact with Meagan Wolfe, administrator of the Wisconsin Elections Commission, for her input and recommendations.
Wolfe has come under fire for guidance given by WEC to municipal clerks during the 2020 elections, which were made much more difficult by the COVID-19 pandemic, and state Assembly Speaker Robin Vos has asked her to resign.
Senator Bernier said she hopes that Governor Tony Evers will read, or has read, the Legislative Audit Bureau report on the 2020 elections, although she also said she does not hold out much hope that Governor Evers will sign the legislation into law.
Absentee ballots
One question from the audience was about requesting absentee ballots.
Absentee ballots can be requested on the www.myvote.wi.gov website or you can contact your municipal clerk or county clerk, Senator Bernier said.
Absentee ballots can be requested for one election or for one year, she noted.
While some states operate their elections strictly by mail and absentee ballots, making that change in Wisconsin would be difficult because some people like going to their polling place to vote in person. In addition, it would take three or four years of planning to switch to all absentee ballots, and the state would need new election laws and new checks and balances, Senator Bernier said.
State law
Another question from the audience concerned the Wisconsin Elections Commission’s ability to make changes to how elections are conducted.
The WEC, and municipal clerks, can only carry out elections according to current state law, Senator Bernier said.
The WEC has been creating guidance when there is no law to back up the guidance, she said.
Much of the guidance from the WEC over the past two years has been related to the COVID-19 pandemic. For example, the confusion over the “special voting deputies” in nursing homes and assisted living facilities was because those facilities were closed to all visitors for quite a while, making it impossible for the people who acted as special voting deputies to enter those facilities.
The WEC is sometimes in a Catch-22 when the law is not clear, and it is an on-going process for clarification, Senator Bernier said.
Drop boxes
Another question from the audience was about drop boxes for absentee ballots.
Drop boxes will need to be addressed at some point, but there was such a big “to-do” on the Republican side about drop boxes, that Senator Bernier said she kept any reference to drop boxes out of the proposed legislation.
A drop box is not partisan and has a secure chain of custody. The boxes are more secure and more reliable than the United States Postal Service, she said.
Miller, the clerk in the Town of Red Cedar, noted that she does not use a ballot drop box, but there is a mail slot in the town hall door for people to drop off absentee ballots.
Several townships in Dunn County do have ballot drop boxes in the clerk’s office, she said.
Early voting
Another question focused on early voting.
Voters in Wisconsin can vote early two weeks before the election. The process is just like on election day. Voters present their voter identification, sign the poll book and cast their ballot, Senator Bernier said.
Another bill that Senator Bernier said she is trying to get through the system relates to “Monday preparation” of absentee ballots, so that municipal clerks can open the absentee envelopes they have received and have them prepped for counting on election day.
Part of the delay in counting votes in the past two years has been because more voters have been voting absentee due to the pandemic, which has meant municipal clerks have had to spend more time on election day getting the absentee envelopes ready to be counted.
Federal holiday
Another question from the audience pertained to making election day a federal holiday, especially for fall elections.
Senator Bernier said she “is okay either way.”
Wisconsin voters can vote by absentee ballot or by early voting in their municipal clerk’s office, so they already have ways to vote if they cannot get to the polls on election day, she said.
On the other hand, if making election day a federal holiday gets more voters to turn out and encourages more people to volunteer to help with elections, that would be good, Senator Bernier said.
Conspiracy theories
Another person asked about finding the Legislative Audit Bureau report or a report on the 2020 elections issued by the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty.
The LAB report can be found by conducting a Google search, although if someone cannot find it, he or she can contact Senator Bernier’s office, the senator said.
The WILL report is a bound report that is based on research, she said.
There is quite a lot of information out there that confuses conspiracy theories with the law and with reality, Senator Bernier said.
Those who believe in the conspiracy theories keep “hounding” the legislators, who have been trying to make the law clearer and more concise, she said, adding that she is tired of people calling her names because her job, as a legislator, is not to prosecute voter fraud.
District attorney
If people believe they know of voter fraud, then those people should talk to their district attorney about voter fraud, Senator Bernier said.
“Everybody needs to chill and understand the law,” she said.
There is nothing that any legislator can do to prosecute voter fraud, Senator Bernier said.
The conspiracy theorists have not driven her to retire, but they have driven her to frustration, she said, adding that there is usually an explanation for things people do not understand.
But people with concerns should be sitting in their district attorney’s office. The legislature does not have enforcement power, Senator Bernier said.
County clerk
Sue McDonald has served as the Eau Claire County Clerk for 10 years.
County clerks do not work at elections, but they do take requests for absentee ballots, as do municipal clerks, she said.
The county clerk collects and verifies information about candidates, designs and orders ballots, programs election equipment and publishes election notices, McDonald said.
The county clerk also receives election results, complies those results and reports the results. Nothing is transmitted over the Internet, and secure servers are used with passwords, she said.
In addition, the county clerk stores post-election materials, and McDonald said she has received many open records requests.
McDonald said she fills those requests, as appropriate under the law, for items that the county maintains.
Election equipment
Dunn County will be using new election equipment this year because support for the old voting machines is no longer available, said Cheryl Miller, clerk in the Town of Red Cedar.
Dominion voting machines were purchased, and the towns budgeted for purchasing the machines, which take paper ballots only, Miller said, adding that the Edge touch-screen machines will no longer be used in Dunn County.
Quite a lot of false information is out there about Dominion voting machines, she said.
After the 2020 election, Miller said she received many telephone calls about the Dominion voting machines from callers who said the machines’ accuracy was less than 60 percent.
Miller said she tried to reason with the callers, but people have strong beliefs in conspiracy theories.
The accusation is that the Dominion voting machines have been designed to falsify election results, that they contribute to voter fraud and that the machines “flip votes.”
“It has been quite a challenge,” she said.
The company that produced the Edge Sequoia machines most recently used in Dunn County was purchased by Dominion in 2010, Miller said, adding that it is “unfortunate” there is so much mis-information.
Over the course of her time as clerk, Miller said she has participated in four election recounts.
The election results that had been reported were “100 percent accurate every time,” she said.
“People (often) do not have a concept of how recounts are run,” Miller said.
If people want to serve as election workers, Wisconsin employers are required to grant an unpaid leave of absence if they receive notification seven days prior to the election, she said.
Poll workers cannot show any kind of political support and should avoid any political topics, Miller said.
The polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., and poll workers can work the full shift or a split shift, she said.
Right now, there are no standards for election worker training, and standards should be implemented so there is consistency in training, Miller said, adding that in her opinion, election workers cannot be over-trained.
Miller said she likes to conduct election worker training in person, but that there are webinars available as well through the WEC website.
Voter registration
People can register to vote at the HYPERLINK “http://www.myvote.wi.gov/”www.myvote.wi.gov website, where voters can also look up their registration status, the address and the name on file for them, their municipal clerk’s name and the location of their polling place, which includes an address and a map, and the candidates and ballots for the next election, Lori Miller said.
Voters can update their name, can request an absentee ballot by mail and can track their ballots, she said.
The Vote411 section of the LWV — Greater Chippewa Valley website at HYPERLINK “http://www.lwv-gcv.org/”www.lwv-gcv.org contains answers to questions posed by candidates, Miller said, noting that LWV — Greater Chippewa Valley is always looking for good questions to send to candidates.
The LWV — Greater Chippewa Valley will be conducting voter registration training so that people who are interested in helping other people register to vote can receive training on how to do so.
The voter registration training will be by Zoom from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. March 1.
Anyone who is interested can sign up on the LWV — Greater Chippewa Valley website.
