State Rep. Lee Snodgrass (D-Appleton) listens as Rep. Lindee Rae Brill (R-Sheboygan Falls) testifies about her bill to ban the use of absentee ballot drop boxes. (Henry Redman | Wisconsin Examiner)

At a public hearing of the Wisconsin Assembly Committee on Campaigns and Elections Tuesday, legislators engaged in an occasionally tense debate over proposed changes to the state election system. 

In attendance at the hearing were some of Wisconsin’s most prominent election deniers, including former state Rep. Janel Brandtjen and Peter Bernegger, a self-styled elections investigator who has been convicted of mail fraud Bernegger stood in the back of the hearing room with a group of companions, muttering and complaining about assertions by the election clerks and legislators who testified. 

The committee heard testimony on bills that would prohibit the use of absentee ballot drop boxes, change the system for how “indefinitely confined voters” cast ballots, add a provision to state law that makes it a felony if election workers don’t allow election observers to exercise their rights and change the system for how state agencies manage voter registration data. 

The most heated part of the hearing came during the discussion of AB 560, authored by Rep. Lindee Rae Brill (R-Sheboygan Falls) and Sen. Andre Jacque (R-New Franken), which outlaws drop boxes. The use of drop boxes has been a politically charged issue since 2020, when right-wing groups started to allege they’re susceptible to fraud and “ballot harvesting” by outfits known as “ballot mills” that allegedly collect illegal ballots and stuff them into drop boxes in order to sway election results. There is no evidence such harvesting happens, though in Wisconsin it is now illegal for anyone other than a voter to return that voter’s absentee ballot. 

Since 2020, the drop box issue has been litigated in the court system more than once. In 2022, the then-conservative-controlled Wisconsin Supreme Court banned drop boxes. In 2024 the new liberal majority on the Court reversed that decision and drop boxes were allowed in last year’s presidential election. Municipal clerks are able to decide whether or not to use the boxes and the Wisconsin Elections Commission has issued guidance for best practices in securing them, but there are no laws on the books guiding how drop boxes should be managed. 

Brill cited incidents in Portland, Oregon and Vancouver, Canada in which absentee ballot drop boxes were set on fire, saying those events show the need for the boxes to have security that the state of Wisconsin and its municipalities can’t afford to provide.

Democrats on the committee asked why isolated anecdotes on the west coast have anything to do with the administration of drop boxes in Wisconsin and argued that the reason many Wisconsinites still have doubts about the security of the state’s elections is because Republicans keep pushing the belief that something is amiss. 

“I would argue that the No. 1 reason that people may have a lack of confidence in the security of our elections is the discourse that conservative members of the Republican Party continue to put out there about fact versus fiction when it comes to actual election security and fraud,” Rep. Lee Snodgrass (D-Appleton) said. 

“I think it’s no secret that the people who are talking about elections being stolen or somehow insecure are people who are grabbing on to conspiracy theories that are not based in fact about actual incidences of election fraud in this country,” Snodgrass continued, citing a 2022 Associated Press survey of election officials about the security of drop boxes. 

“I don’t know that I consider that a valid source, Associated Press,” Brill replied. “I don’t always see everything from the Associated Press being absolutely valid, but that might be where you and I find truth in different spots. This might be where we’re finding facts in different locations.”

The criticism of Brill’s bill didn’t just come from the committee’s Democrats. Rep. Scott Krug (R-Nekoosa), who has often worked to broker compromise on election issues, questioned Brill’s choice to put forward the bill despite the near certainty that it will be vetoed by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers. 

Krug said if Republicans move forward with the bill and it passes both chambers only to be vetoed in early 2026 and then the state is left in the same position — drop boxes are allowed at the discretion of local election clerks without any rules or regulations guiding their use, security or procedures. 

“[This bill is] not going to change the Supreme Court’s opinion on drop boxes. It’s not going to change the governor’s opinion on drop boxes,” Krug said. “We still have a problem in our communities, and that’s what I’m trying to get to is, politically, where we are dealing with realities. We know that if this bill leaves this committee, goes to the floor, gets voted on, goes to the Senate, gets through committee, gets voted on in the Senate, goes to the governor’s desk, he vetoes it — then where are we with drop boxes?”

Brill said more than once that she doesn’t think Republicans in the Legislature should be trying to write election-related bills that can be signed into law by Evers. 

“I don’t believe that doing election integrity that the governor is going to sign is what Republicans should be doing,” she said. “I think election integrity is something that is a very divided issue, and I think we’re on the right side of this issue. So if the governor was going to say he was going to sign, I mean, I am a believer in God and follower of Jesus Christ, so do I believe that there’s a chance that he would change his mind and sign this into law? Sure, but I’m taking this head-on, because our Republican president believes this is the direction we should be heading.”

A number of election clerks also testified on the bill, questioning the assertion that drop boxes are less secure than U.S. Postal Service mailboxes and insisting that allegations of ballot harvesting are false. 

Indefinitely confined voters 

Since the 1970s, Wisconsin law has allowed voters to identify themselves as indefinitely confined, meaning they’re unable to leave the house to vote so their local election clerk automatically sends them an absentee ballot for each election. 

When the state instituted its voter ID law in 2011, indefinitely confined voters were exempted from its requirements. In 2020, the use of indefinitely confined status increased due to the COVID-19 pandemic, raising concerns among Republicans that the program is susceptible to fraud. 

AB 599 would end the indefinitely confined program by Jan. 1, 2029 and replace it with a program that allows voters with disabilities or illnesses to request that absentee ballots be automatically sent to them and provide proof of identification. That request would be valid until the ID’s expiration, at which time the voter will need to start the process again with their new ID. 

The bill’s Republican authors, Krug and Rep. Cindy Duchow (R-Town of Delafield), said the proposal was “not a rollback” but a “recalibration” of the system. But Democrats and advocates for people with disabilities argued the state has barriers that can make it difficult for people with disabilities to obtain a state-issued ID, mostly due to challenges with DMV hours and transportation access.

Election clerks testified that the bill pushes a major burden of added work onto the local clerks. 

Election observers

AB 426, authored by Rep. Paul Tittl, would penalize any election official who infringes on an election observer’s rights to be within three and eight feet of all aspects of the voting process with up to 90 days imprisonment in county jail and a fine of up to $1,000. 

Snodgrass pointed to a recently enacted administrative rule that guides the conduct of election observers and gives  election officials authority to manage observer conduct. She said the state should wait to see how the rules work before further tweaking the law. 

Voter data 

The committee also heard testimony on AB 595, authored by Krug, which would change how the state elections commission works with other agencies to share data such as a voter’s name and state ID number. Republicans have spent years complaining that the state voter registration list is full of errors. Democrats and election administration experts have said aggressive attempts to delete data from the statewide system would result in the disenfranchisement of Wisconsin voters. 

The bill would require the Department of Transportation and WEC to enter into a data-sharing agreement to match information in the possession of both agencies. 

Under current law, whenever a voter is no longer eligible to vote, for any reason, their file is changed to ineligible on the voter registration list but not removed. This prevents people from being removed in error and allows people to retain their voter registration file if they’re convicted of a felony and then can vote again after serving their sentence. 

Krug’s bill would remove people from the list once they’re declared ineligible. If someone is then eligible to vote again, they’d have to re-register. 

The bill would also require the Legislative Audit Bureau to conduct an audit every other year of the official voter list to search for registered voters who aren’t U.S. citizens. While Republicans have of fraud by non-citizen who illegally cast ballots, there is little proof it happens at a significant rate.

Krug said that a lot of election skeptics’ complaints have simmered for years without the ability to provide definitive answers about their validity because the data can’t be compiled, so his bill is trying to solve that. 

“Is it a widespread problem? No. Does it happen? Yes,” Krug said. “So that’s what I’m trying to figure out, is, what is that in between? What does it look like? … This is not a gotcha. I just want to be able to say, ‘OK, agency gave me data, I can show you that this isn’t a major problem,’ and then I can come up with solutions.”

GET THE MORNING HEADLINES.

SUBSCRIBE

Assembly Majority Leader Tyler August (R-Walworth) attacks the Assembly Democrats in a floor speech on Tuesday, Oct. 14. (Screenshot/WisEye)

During an Assembly floor session in which most of the bills passed on voice votes that were unanimous or nearly so, the chamber’s Democrats took the occasion Tuesday to make pointed arguments with amendments that were quickly quashed.

Republican lawmakers lashed back with accusations of politics and grandstanding, while Democrats retorted that they were raising issues relevant to their constituents that the GOP majority has ignored.

On a bill that includes a pilot program for enabling video communications between callers and public safety call centers, Rep. Christian Phelps (D-Eau Claire) offered an amendment to restrict the video recordings from being shared.

“My amendment tightens the guardrails on the pilot program to clarify that no real-time video could be shared with private contractors or masked federal agents with ICE or any other actors not relevant to the incident being reported,” Phelps told lawmakers.

In recent door-to-door visits with constituents, “most of them have been saying they want to protect and expand Medicaid, public schools, they’re worried about the economy,” he added. “Zero percent said that they want more government surveillance.”

The amendment was rejected 54-42.

“What is the bar?”: Wisconsin Legislature divided as it passes resolution honoring Charlie Kirk 

The official theme of the day — set as always by the Republican caucus — revolved around public safety, and was cued up with the first hour set aside to honor first responders from each of the state’s 99 Assembly districts.

On the floor, the Assembly passed bills to ban gadgets that can automatically hide or swap out a driver’s license plate (SB 66); increase the penalties for impersonating police, fire fighters and other emergency service personnel (AB 136); punish people who harass search and rescue dogs (AB 239); increase the penalty for human trafficking (AB 265); and require drivers to move over for disabled vehicles on the highway just as they must already give a wide berth to a stopped emergency vehicle (AB 409).

The body also concurred — on a voice vote and without debate — with a Senate bill that split lawmakers on party lines in the 2023-24 legislative session and was vetoed by Gov. Tony Evers.

The legislation, SB 25, would shield police officers involved in the fatal shootings of civilians from judicial investigations under Wisconsin’s John Doe law if prosecutors decline to issue charges unless new evidence is produced. The bill passed a divided Senate in March.

Amendments as talking points

On Tuesday, disagreement only broke open when Democrats used the amendment process to highlight some of their policy priorities that weren’t otherwise up for discussion.

Each time, Rep. Kevin Petersen (R-Waupaca), filling in in the speaker’s chair, ruled the amendments out of order, and the Assembly Republicans agreed in party-line votes.

The first of the Democratic amendments was on SB-183, which came to the Assembly after passing the Senate earlier Tuesday.

The legislation increases the Medicaid reimbursement for emergency medical services when drivers arrive to pick up a patient but the person ends up forgoing a trip to the hospital.

Rep. Alex Joers (D-Waunakee) offered an amendment to increase the state budget by $69.2 million to offset increases in the state’s cost to run the federally funded FoodShare program.

Rule changes that Republicans enacted in the tax-cut and spending-cut megabill that President Donald Trump signed July 4 set an “impossible standard” for Wisconsin to meet, he said. “We want to prevent another multi-million dollar heist by Trump and his followers.”

When the vote came on the bill itself — which passed by a unanimous voice vote — the bill’s Assembly author, Rep. Tony Kurtz (R-Wonewoc) angrily scolded the Democrats.

“I’m a little bit taken back by the amendment that was thrown on to this bill,” Kurtz said. “I understand you want to get your political points, that’s fine. But there’s other bills you can do that with. This was a disrespect to those first responders that were here today.”

The next bill to get that treatment was SB 309, giving dispatchers and 911 call center operators immunity from any civil liability if they transfer a caller to the national 988 suicide and crisis line. That bill also passed with a unanimous voice vote.

First, however, state Rep. Joan Fitzgerald (D-Fort Atkinson) proposed an amendment to restore $25 million a year for the current two-year budget that would go to municipalities to improve or expand their EMS operations. The money was included in Gov. Tony Evers’ budget proposal but removed by the Joint Finance Committee’s Republican leaders.

“Today, you have the opportunity to change that and do the right thing and make sure municipalities get the money they need to fund these essential services,” Fitzgerald said. The Assembly voted 54-42 against the amendment. 

Raising Epstein

A few bills later came SB 76, requiring prosecutors to get a judge’s approval before dismissing or amending charges for a broad group of crimes. That bill passed on a 53-43 party-line vote, with only Republican support.

There was no discussion of that bill’s content, however. Instead, Democrats offered an amendment requiring the governor to issue a formal notice calling for the release of the federal files on deceased sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.

Even before Epstein’s name was uttered in the chamber, Majority Leader Rep. Tyler August (R-Walworth) launched a broad verbal attack on the Democrats.

As with the other amendments, August raised a “point of order,” objecting to the amendment’s relevance to the legislation. He accused Democrats of “political gamesmanship” and pursuing “gotcha votes” to embarrass Republicans, and charged that “they just flat-out lie” in political campaigns.

“And so this is just another embarrassing moment for Assembly Democrats,” August said. “And then they wonder why they’re never going to be in charge of this place.”

Rep. Clint Anderson (D-Beloit) retorted just as sharply.

“You know what’s embarrassing is getting mad about us talking about holding a pedophile accountable,” Anderson said. “I think it is time that we send a message that we think no matter how powerful, how wealthy, and how politically connected you are, you will be held accountable if you traffic children.”

Rep. Lee Snodgrass (D-Appleton) argued that the amendment was relevant because the original bill was about restricting deferred prosecution.

“We all just voted unanimously to increase penalties for human trafficking and extend the statute of limitations,” Snodgrass said. “You simply cannot vote for that and then vote down this amendment.”

When Rep. Randy Udell (D-Fitchburg) began recounting some of the names of Epstein’s reported victims, Petersen interrupted.

“How do any of these names relate to Wisconsin?” Petersen said.

Udell: “They are all victims of Epstein and these files should be released.”

Petersen: “Did they happen in Wisconsin?”

Udell (who represents the 47th Assembly District): “We don’t know. The files haven’t been released.”

Petersen: “Representative from the 47th, on the point of order — not on national politics.”

GET THE MORNING HEADLINES.

SUBSCRIBE

Assembly Republican and Democratic authors announced competing bills at a joint press conference last week. (Photo by Baylor Spears/Wisconsin Examiner)

Wisconsin lawmakers are once again trying to make changes to the state’s elections system, including allowing elections clerks to start processing absentee ballots the day before Election Day, though partisan divisions on how the changes should be made are already showing. 

Assembly Republican and Democratic authors announced competing bills at a joint press conference last week, saying they are starting a conversation around the proposals and aim to get them done this session. It’s unclear whether those conversations will end in new laws ahead of the 2026 elections, which will include a spring Supreme Court election, a high-profile, open race for governor and state legislative races where control is up for grabs. 

“There’s not a lot new in here,” Assistant Majority Leader Scott Krug (R-Rome) said. “We’ve gone through a lot of these things before, but we’re here to talk about things that should matter to every Wisconsinite, whether you’re Republican, Democrat or independent, about having faith and confidence in your elections from the beginning of the process all the way through to the end.”

Krug said his proposals would help ensure three things for voters: the “person who’s voting next to them is who they say they are,” that the “person is eligible to vote” and that they know “who won the damn election before they go to bed.”

One bill, Krug said, would take a “comprehensive look at how we approach absentee voting in the state of Wisconsin.” This would include allowing for processing of absentee ballots to start on the  Monday before Election Day and regulating drop boxes in Wisconsin. 

“Absentee voting is here to stay, so we want to make sure that we include a process where we can actually get these results across the finish line before we go to bed,” Krug said. He added that by pairing the issue with drop boxes regulations in his new bill he hopes it will “draw all legislators to the table.”  

Election clerks have called for change for years. Currently in Wisconsin, elections workers aren’t allowed to start processing absentee ballots until 7 a.m. on Election Day. This has led to extended processing times, especially in the larger cities including Milwaukee — bolstering suspicions among  Republicans since 2018 about  late night “ballot dumps” in Democratic cities. 

Despite passing the Assembly, a bill to implement Monday processing died last legislative session due to opposition in the Senate. 

In addition to reviving Monday processing, Krug promoted new standards for drop boxes.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court reversed a decision that had banned drop boxes in Wisconsin until the new ruling in July 2024. Some Republicans, though not Krug, were critical of the decision. 

“People who are in our communities who see drop boxes on the corner want to know if they have security, that they have standards, that they’re being used the same across the state of Wisconsin,” Krug said. “I know we don’t all agree on what those provisions and those standards should be, but we’ll have a good conversation about that.”

Another bill, Krug said, would eliminate the “ballot drawdown” process from Wisconsin statute and replace it with a process known as “risk-limiting audits.” The drawdown is used when there is a numerical discrepancy and as a result a ballot may be randomly selected and removed from the vote count. 

“Clerical errors can lead to an actually legal ballot being tossed out,” Krug said. “We’ve got to get rid of the drawdown.”

Risk limiting audits are a statistically based audit technique, which audits a certain number of ballots depending on the margin of victory in a given election, has been growing in popularity in recent years, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

The bill language for Krug’s first two bills is not available.

Krug said AB 312, which was introduced earlier this year, is also included in his package. The bill would require absentee voting sites to be open for at least 20 hours during the period for voting absentee in-person. 

“There’s going to be a limited number of session days going into the fall and spring,” Krug said, adding that it could be difficult to get “27 or 30 election bills” across the finish line individually. 

“Time is of the essence,” Krug said for getting the changes done before 2026 fall elections.

While the lawmakers held their press conference jointly, Rep. Lee Snodgrass (D-Appleton) said she is not currently supportive of Krug’s bills but that having the conversation is important. 

“I think it’s over bloated,” Snodgrass said about Krug’s “Monday processing” proposal. “I’d like to see a cleaner bill.”

“We are meeting the moment. Our country, and our state has never been more divided and more contentious. The partisan divide has become not just contentious, but even hostile,” Snodgrass said, adding that she and Krug want to “model that civil conversations in debate can happen in the same room, from the same podium and with the same goal in mind despite diverging ideas.” 

Senate Democrat critical of Krug’s legislation

In addition to Assembly Democrats not being on board with Republican election proposals, there already appear to be some obstacles in the Senate.

While speaking to reporters after the Assembly press conference, Sen. Mark Spreitzer (D-Beloit) criticized Krug’s Monday processing proposal, saying he was “very disappointed” with the new version as it contains a “poison pills” meant to satisfy the right-wing portion of his party. 

“The Monday processing concept has always been a good idea on its own merits, but it’s never been about the right to vote. It has always been about efficiencies for our clerks and our election officials to process ballots more smoothly,” Spreitzer said. “None of those things are about voting rights, and I’m not willing to trade those things for undermining people’s voting rights.” 

Spreitzer said the dropbox restrictions are “nonstarters” that would “functionally ban them in most communities.” A bill draft, according to VoteBeat, includes a ban on clerks fixing errors on ballots and guidelines for dropboxes, including where to place them, how to secure them, how to collect ballots and how to keep records of when they’re emptied as well as requiring they be under a continuous, livestreamed video feed. 

“I don’t know where these ideas are coming from, but it’s got to be from the extreme part of the Republican caucus, and I just don’t think these are what we should be putting forward related to our elections,” Spreitzer said. 

Spreitzer said Monday processing may not happen until Democrats have control, given the recent version of the bill.

“It may mean that we need to wait for a Democratic majority to pass this,” Spreitzer said. Senate Republicans currently hold a 17-15 majority. Democrats are hoping to change that in 2026 and need to win at least two additional seats to flip control of the chamber for the first time in over 15 years.

Waiting would delay any changes to 2027 at the earliest. 

Democratic bills

Snodgrass, alongside three of her Assembly Democratic colleagues, introduced proposals that have overlapping goals with Krug’s legislation last week.

Snodgrass said the Democratic package is meant to focus on “strengthening our democracy” by increasing access, educating people and providing the resources necessary to ensure that all eligible electors can vote. She said they specifically want to remove barriers to voting, not impose them.

One bill would require elected state officials to serve as poll workers during their first term and once every three years after that to help increase their understanding of the state’s election administration. 

“There’s no better way of learning than doing so,” Snodgrass said, adding that the bill would help elected officials be a “voice to talk about how Wisconsin’s elections are secure.” 

A pair of bills seek to ensure that polling places and voting are more accessible by requiring that election officials have one hour of voter accessibility training, and requiring election officials use the Wisconsin Elections Commission’s accessibility checklist at each polling place and uniform signs with  instructions for curbside voting. Several of the bills focus on helping young people in the state participate in elections. 

One bill would require that at least one special school registration deputy be present at each public high school in the state so eligible students can register to vote at school during the day. One bill would require high schools to give voter registration forms and nonpartisan voting information to students who are eligible to vote. 

The Department of Public Instruction would be required, under one bill, to develop a curriculum on the electoral process and voting. The agency would also have to mandate at least one hour of voter education instruction annually for K-12 students. 

“Too often, young people want to get involved, but don’t know how,” Rep. Jodi Emerson (D-Eau Claire) said. “By making voter registration and civic information part of the high school experience, we eliminate barriers and send a clear message, your voice matters, and your vote counts. This bill is not about partisanship. It’s about participation. It’s about preparing students to step confidently into adulthood, not just as graduates, but as citizens ready to shape their communities and their future.”

The package also includes a constitutional amendment proposal that would allow 17-year-olds to vote in primaries if they will be 18 by the general election. Another bill would allow 16- and 17-year-olds to preregister to vote if they turn 18 before the next election.

GET THE MORNING HEADLINES.

SUBSCRIBE