ELECTION ISSUES ON STATE LEGISLATURE’S CALENDAR
Government Accountability Board ( the GAB)will meet as previously announced at 9:00 a. m at its offices located at 212 E. Washington Avenue.
AGENDA: The full agenda and agenda materials will be printed on http://gab/wi.gov tomorrow (Friday, May 17) under “Upcoming Events” on left side of homepage, Meeting Date of May 21. Click on date and agenda materials will be available.
Items to be discussed include:
•Formal opinion of Board on Open Meetings Reguirements for Election Day Post-election and canvassing procedures
•Report of delivery of military and overseas ballots
•Proposed process for review of ES&S voting system with telecommunication application
•Report on concerns of Clerk’s Taskforce
•Report on Special Voting Deputies in Nursing Homes and Care Facilities and proposed manual
•Legislative report
•Reports on GAB staff activities.
Assembly Campaign and Elections Committee will meet at on Tuesday, May 21 at10:00 a.m., in Room 328NW State Capitol Building.
Chairman, Rep. Kathy Bernier
Vice Chairman, Rep. Don Pridemore
AGENDA:
Public comment or written comment will be taken on the following:
•Assembly Bill AB 89/Senate bill SB 94 which relates to reporting election returns by municipalities even when wards are combined
•AB 91/SB 90: Current law prohibits legislators or candidates from using public funds to distribute literature from the day nomination papers are files until the date of the election. This bill proposes to allow legislators to use public funds to communicate with their constituents for 45 days following a declaration of a state emergency by the governor solely on the subject of the emergency.
•AB 128/SB114: Relating to additional requirements for circulators of recall petitions including when registering to circulate a petition a statement indicating the officer for whom the recall is sought has been charged with committing a crime or violating a code of ethics law applicable to local officials. The person must also include a copy of the criminal or civil complaint alleging the crime or violation.
•Review by the legislators of two sections of the administrative rules of the Government Accountability Board which govern Wisconsin elections, Section 5 and Section 7. No public testimony taken on this review but the discussion is open to the public.
As both meetings are on the same day, close together, it will be a full day in Madison. If you can come to the hearings, please attend. If you cannot be in Madison on Tuesday and have opinions on any of the GAB agenda items or the above bills being considered, send your comments either to gab@wi.gov and ask that your comments be distributed to the Board members or to and the Assembly Committee Chairman at Rep.Bernier@legis.wisconsin.gov ask that your comments be included in the official record of the hearing.
Update – 5/17
ELECTION OBSERVER BILL ADDED TO MAY 21ST HEARING
The Assembly Committee on Campaigns and Elections announced one additional bill, AB 202, added to the agenda for the public hearing noticed for Tuesday, May 21st.
Current election law permits any member of the public to be present at a polling place and for the chief inspector or municipal clerk to designate areas within the polling place allowing members of the public to readily observe all public aspects of the voting process. GAB rules require observers to observe from 6-12 feet from either the ballot table or the registration table.
Assembly Bill 202, authored by Representative Pridemore, committee vice-chairman, would:
•Require a chief inspector and the municipal clerk to designate an observer area for election observers that is within three feet of the table at which electors announce their name and address to receive a voter number for their ballot and within three feet of the registration table.
•The chief inspector or the clerk may permit an election observer to sit at either table provided the observer is not permitted to observe confidential voter information.
•The bill, also, requires each election observer to print and sign his/her name and date the log maintained for the polling place.
MAH 5/15 & 17/13
