Wisconsin election regulators blasted for mailing postcards to 116,000 inactive voters

One of the most outspoken critics of elections in Wisconsin says the latest from the state’s Election Commission isn’t doing much to instill confidence among voters.

The Wisconsin Elections Commission on Friday announced it has mailed postcards to 116,051 voters who have not cast a ballot in the past four years.

“These voters have 30 days to respond and tell their clerk whether they want to remain an active registered voter,” the Elections Commission said in a statement. “If their clerk does not hear from them or if their mailing is undeliverable, their voter registration will be deactivated and they will need to reregister.”

Rep. Janel Brandtjen, R-Menomonee Falls, who has been a constant critic of WEC and its administrator, Megan Wofle, told The Center Square that the postcards don’t do much.

“WEC's willingness to identify voters who haven't voted in four years, over providing the clerks with a legally required list of Active Military voters, is exactly the type of work that reduces the confidence in voters,” Brandtjen said.

Brandtjen was mailed three military ballots last year, an attempt by a former Milwaukee County elections official to show a loophole in the state’s election laws that allow people to claim a military ballot without having to prove they are active duty military personnel.

“We live in a state with same day voter registration, show your ID, and you can vote,” Brandtjen added. “Wolfe [still] refuses to verify active military registrations even after fraud was committed.”

WEC’s postcard mailing is largely perfunctory. It happens every two years.

“In addition to sending out postcards every two years, the WEC is continually helping Wisconsin’s roughly 1,850 municipal clerks keep the voter list current,” the Commission added in its statement. “Working together with Wisconsin’s clerks, the Commission is making the statewide voter database more accurate.”

Even if someone is mailed a postcard and doesn’t respond, they are kept on the voter rolls. The Elections Commission simply lists them as “inactive.”

The Elections Commission says there are just under 3.4 million active register voters in Wisconsin, but there are hundreds of thousands of inactive voters who remain on the voter rolls.

Anyone getting a postcard from the Elections Commission this month has until mid-July to respond, or they will be labeled inactive.