Wisconsin Gov. Evers to decide on Republican election reform package

Republicans in the Wisconsin Assembly say Gov. Tony Evers will have to decide if he wants to allow “shenanigans in elections” to continue.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos on Tuesday said the Assembly will approve a series of election reforms designed to close loopholes that Republicans say were exploited during the November 2020 election.

“The goal is to make sure that every single person has the chance to vote,” Vos said. “But that we guarantee that the [lack of] confidence in the election, which was severely undermined by the actions of a few over the last election cycle, is a thing of the past.”

Republicans are on-board with changes to election monitors, how counties broadcast or stream their vote count, and how people who live in nursing homes can vote.

The biggest changes, however, focus on voter ID, absentee ballots and indefinitely confined voters.

Rep. Rick Gundrum, R-Slinger, wrote the clarifications for absentee voting.

“It does not make it harder to vote, it makes it easier to vote,” Gundrum said Tuesday. “We have curbside voting, pre-paid return absentee envelopes. There are already many [absentee voting] protections in Wisconsin. We are not disenfranchising voters.”

All of the election changes are in response to what Republican lawmakers saw as problems in either the April or November 2020 elections – specifically: absentee and indefinitely confined voters.

“Fifty four thousand indefinitely confined voters never showed photo ID,” Gundrumd explained. “Approximately 250,000 voters claimed to be indefinitely confined in the last election. Not all of them were.”

Gundrum said some lawmakers claimed to be indefinitely confined, but were instead “out and about.”

Democratic lawmakers universally oppose all of the election reforms.

Democratic Leader Rep. Gordon Hintz, D-Oshkosh, said Republicans are trying to make it harder for people in the state to vote.

“It’s more politics. It’s not real. It’s efforts that seem to be aimed at reinforcing things that are part of the national Republican plan,” Hintz said.

Gov. Evers is not expected to sign any of the changes. He’s said for months he doesn’t want to make it tougher for people in the state to vote.

Vos said that’s a choice the governor will have to make.

“I understand for those who think it's okay to have shenanigans in elections, they might want to allow the process to continue,” Vos. “These [reforms] are things that protect everybody."