The bill requires the Board of Regents to provide funding to the Wisconsin Institute for Sustainable Technology at UW-Stevens Point to broaden the institute’s support for, and further technical contributions to, this state’s forest and paper industries and for the institute’s ongoing operations.
Funding for financial education provided through the UW System
The bill creates a continuing appropriation for the UW System to provide funding for a Financial Futures Incentive Program in UW-Madison’s Division of Extension (UW Extension) that makes financial education and coaching available to Wisconsin residents.
Funding for a rural Wisconsin entrepreneurship initiative
The bill creates a continuing appropriation for the UW System to provide funding for a rural Wisconsin entrepreneurship initiative in the UW Extension that provides business development assistance, rural entrepreneurship ecosystems, and access to finance for rural entrepreneurs in this state.
UniverCity Alliance program
The bill creates an appropriation funding the UniverCity Alliance program within the UW-Madison. The UniverCity Alliance program connects in partnership communities, towns, cities, and counties with UW-Madison education, service, and research activities in order to address the communities’ biggest local challenges.
UW Missing-in-Action Recovery and Identification Project
Under the bill, the Board of Regents must provide funding to the UW Missing-in-Action Recovery and Identification Project (MIA Recovery Project) for missions to recover and identify Wisconsin veterans who are missing in action. At the conclusion of the mission for which funding is provided, the MIA Recovery Project must submit to the Board of Regents, JCF, each legislative standing committee dealing with veterans matters, the governor, DVA, and DMA a report on the mission’s findings and an accounting of expenditures for the mission. The Board of Regents must provide the funding through a new UW System appropriation.
Administration of the Wisconsin National Guard tuition grants
Under current law, an eligible Wisconsin National Guard member may apply to receive a tuition grant that covers 100 percent of the tuition charged by a qualifying school. The national guard member must submit an application for the tuition grant no later than 90 days after completion of a course, and DMA must pay to an eligible individual moneys from the grant no later than than 30 days after DMA receives certification from a qualifying school that the individual has met eligibility requirements. DMA has a sum sufficient appropriation from which it funds the tuition grants. The bill gives DMA the authority to use the appropriation from which it funds the tuition grants to also fund the administrative costs associated with the payment of the tuition grants.
Transferring risk management positions from the UW System to DOA
The bill transfers, from the UW System to DOA, 5.0 full-time equivalent positions and the employees holding those positions who perform duties in the UW Office of Risk Management.
Grants to students with visual or hearing impairment and talent incentive grants
Under current law, HEAB administers programs to award grants to postsecondary students with visual or hearing impairments and to award talent incentive grants.
The bill makes clarifying changes relating to these grants that do not substantively affect HEAB’s administration of these grant programs.
Other educational and cultural agencies
Library intern stipend payments
The bill requires the Division for Libraries and Technology in DPI to provide stipend payments to students who are pursuing a degree in library science and are placed as an intern in a public library. The stipend payments are $2,500 per student per semester, and begin in the 2024-25 school year.
ELECTIONS
Automatic voter registration
The bill requires the Elections Commission to use all feasible means to facilitate the registration of all individuals eligible to vote in this state and to maintain the registration of all eligible voters for so long as they remain eligible. Under the bill, the Elections Commission must attempt to facilitate the initial registration of all eligible voters as soon as practicable. To facilitate that initial registration, the bill directs the commission and DOT to enter into an agreement so that DOT may transfer specified personally identifying information in DOT’s records to the commission. The bill requires the commission to maintain the confidentiality of any information it obtains under the agreement and allows a driver’s license or identification card applicant to “opt out” of DOT’s transfer of this information to the commission.
Once the commission obtains all the information required under current law to complete an eligible voter’s registration, the commission adds the voter’s name to the statewide registration list. The bill also permits an individual whose name is added to the registration list or who wishes to permanently exclude his or her name from the list to file a request to have his or her name deleted or excluded from the list or to revoke a deletion or exclusion request previously made. In addition, the bill directs the commission to notify an individual by first class postcard whenever the commission removes his or her name from the registration list or changes his or her status on the list from eligible to ineligible.
The bill also directs the commission to report to the legislature and the governor, no later than July 1, 2025, its progress in initially registering eligible voters under the bill. The report must contain an assessment of the feasibility and desirability of integration of registration information with information maintained by DHS, DCF, DWD, DOR, DSPS, and DNR; the UW System; and the TCS Board, as well as with the technical colleges in each technical college district.
Under current law, a qualified voter with a current and valid driver’s license or identification card issued by DOT may register to vote electronically on a secure website maintained by the commission. To register electronically under current law, a qualified voter must also authorize DOT to forward a copy of his or her electronic signature to the commission. The authorization affirms that all information provided by the voter is correct and has the same effect as a written signature on a paper copy of the registration form. Finally, current law requires the commission and DOT to enter into an agreement that permits the commission to verify the necessary registration information instantly by accessing DOT’s electronic files.
Early canvassing of absentee ballots
Under current law, absentee ballots may not be canvassed until election day. The bill authorizes a municipal clerk or municipal board of election commissioners to begin the canvassing of absentee ballots on the day before an election, subject to the following requirements:
1. The municipality must use automatic tabulating equipment to process absentee ballots.
2. Prior to the early canvassing of absentee ballots, the municipal clerk or municipal board of election commissioners must notify the Elections Commission in writing and must consult with the Elections Commission concerning administration of early canvassing of absentee ballots.
3. Early canvassing of absentee ballots under the bill may be conducted only between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m. on the day before the election, and ballots may not be tallied until after polls close on election day.
4. Members of the public must have the same right of access to a place where absentee ballots are being canvassed as early as is provided under current law for canvassing absentee ballots on election day.
5. When not in use, automatic tabulating equipment used for canvassing absentee ballots and the areas where the programmed media and the absentee ballots are housed must be secured with tamper-evident security seals in a double-lock location such as a locked cabinet inside a locked office.
6. Subject to criminal penalty, no person may act in any manner that would give him or her the ability to know or to provide information on the accumulating or final results from the ballots canvassed early under the bill before the close of the polls on election day.
7. Certain notices must be provided before each election at which the municipality intends to canvass absentee ballots on the day before the election.
Residency requirement for voting
Under current law, with limited exceptions, an otherwise eligible voter must be a resident of this state and of the municipality and ward, if any, where the voter is voting for 28 days before an election in order to vote in the election in that municipality and ward. The bill shortens that residency requirement from 28 days to 10 days.
Voting absentee in person
Current law allows an individual to complete an absentee ballot in person no earlier than 14 days preceding the election and no later than the Sunday preceding the election. The bill eliminates the 14-day restriction on how soon a person may complete an absentee ballot in person.
Voter bill of rights
The bill creates a voter bill of rights that municipal clerks and boards of election commissioners must post at each polling place. The bill of rights informs voters that they have the right to do all of the following:
1. Vote if registered and eligible to vote.
2. Inspect a sample ballot before voting.
3. Cast a ballot if in line when the polling place closes or, if voting by in-person absentee ballot on the last day for which such voting is allowed, when the municipal clerk’s office closes.
4. Cast a secret ballot.
5. Get help casting a ballot if disabled.
6. Get help voting in a language other than English as provided by law.
7. Get a new ballot, up to three ballots in all, if the voter makes a mistake on the ballot.
8. Cast a provisional ballot as provided by law.
9. Have the voter’s ballot counted accurately.
10. Vote free from coercion or intimidation.
11. Report any illegal or fraudulent election activity.
Office of Election Transparency and Compliance
The bill creates under the Elections Commission the Office of Election Transparency and Compliance. The office is under the direction and supervision of a director appointed in the classified service by the commission administrator.
The bill requires the office, as directed by the commission by resolution, to provide assistance and research to the commission concerning sworn complaints of election law violations, including violations by election officials. The bill further requires the office to provide assistance and research to the commission with respect to the following, as directed by the commission administrator:
1. Procedures at polling places.
2. Election processes.
3. Audits of election systems and equipment, including with respect to accessibility requirements for individuals with disabilities.
4. Responding to public records requests.
5. Responding to legislative inquiries and requests for assistance.
6. Responding to inquiries from the public.
Voter registration in high schools
Prior to 2011 Wisconsin Act 240, state law required that all public high schools be used for voter registration for enrolled students and members of the high school staff. Prior law also authorized voter registration to take place at a private high school or a tribal school that operates high school grades if requested by the principal. The bill reinstates those provisions. Under the bill, the municipal clerk must notify the school board of each school district in which the municipality is located that high schools will be used for voter registration. The school board and the clerk then appoint at least one qualified voter at each high school to be a special school registration deputy. The bill allows students and staff to register at the school on any day that classes are regularly held. The deputies promptly forward the registration forms to the clerk and the clerk adds qualified voters to the registration list. The clerk may reject a registration form, but the clerk must notify the registrant and inform the registrant of the reason for being rejected. Under the bill, a form completed by an individual who will be 18 years of age before the next election and who is otherwise qualified to vote must be filed in such a way so that the individual is automatically registered to vote when the individual is 18.
Finally, the bill allows a principal of a private high school or tribal school that operates high school grades to request that the municipal clerk appoint a qualified voter at the school to be a special school registration deputy. Under the bill, the clerk must appoint a special school registration deputy if the clerk determines that the private high school or tribal school has a substantial number of students residing in the municipality.
Proof of identification for voting
Current law allows an individual to use as voter identification an unexpired identification card issued by a technical college, college, or university in this state if the card meets certain criteria. The card must have an expiration date that is no later than two years after the date it was issued, and the individual must establish proof of enrollment. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit held that the requirement to present both an unexpired identification card and proof of enrollment had no rational basis and was therefore unconstitutional. See, Luft v. Evers, 963 F.3d 665 (2020). The bill allows a student to use an expired student identification card under certain circumstances. Under the bill, a student does not need to present proof of enrollment if using an unexpired identification card, but must provide proof of enrollment if using an expired identification card. In addition, the bill requires each technical college in this state and each UW System institution to issue student identification cards that meet the criteria to be used as voter identification no later than August 1, 2023.
Current law also allows an individual to use as voter identification an identification card issued by DOT. DOT may issue a receipt as a temporary identification card to use for voting and other purposes to an individual who is waiting for the permanent card. The receipt expires in 60 days. The bill extends the expiration date to 180 days.
Special elections to fill vacancies in the office of U.S. senator and representative in congress
Under current law, a vacancy in the office of U.S. senator or representative in Congress occurring prior to the second Tuesday in April in the year of the general election must be filled at a special primary and special election. A vacancy occurring in one of these offices between the second Tuesday in April and the second Tuesday in May in the year of the general election is filled at the partisan primary and general election.
Current law provides that a special primary be held four weeks before the day of the special election. However, if the election is held on the same day as the spring election, the special primary is held concurrently with the spring primary. Under current law, with regard to an election for a national office, the period between a special primary and special election or between the spring primary and spring election does not provide sufficient time to canvass and certify the primary results and prepare ballots to send to overseas voters as required by federal law.
Under the bill, a vacancy in the office of U.S. senator or representative in Congress is filled in one of the following manners:
1. At a special election to be held on the third Tuesday in May following the first day of the vacancy with a special primary to be held concurrently with the spring primary on the third Tuesday in February.
2. At a special election to be held on the second Tuesday in August following the first day of the vacancy with a special primary to be held on the third Tuesday in May.
3. At a special election to be held on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November following the first day of the vacancy with a special primary to be held on the second Tuesday in August.
However, under the bill, a November special election is not held in any year in which the general election is held for that office; instead, the vacancy is filled at the partisan primary and general election.
Reimbursement of counties and municipalities for certain election costs
The bill requires the Elections Commission to reimburse counties and municipalities for certain costs incurred in the administration of special primaries and special elections for state or national office. A cost is eligible for reimbursement only if certain conditions are met, including that the commission determines the cost is reasonable and the rate paid by the county or municipality for the cost does not exceed the rate customarily paid for similar costs at a primary or election that is not a special primary or election. Under the bill, only the following costs may be reimbursed:
1. Rental payments for polling places.
2. Election day wages paid to election officials working at the polls.
3. Costs for the publication of required election notices.
4. Printing and postage costs for absentee ballots and envelopes.
5. Costs for the design and printing of ballots and poll books.
6. Purchase of ballot bags or containers, including ties or seals for chain of custody purposes.
7. Costs to program electronic voting machines.
8. Purchase of memory devices for electronic voting machines.
9. Wages paid to conduct a county canvass.
10. Data entry costs for the statewide voter registration system.
Grants for the purchase of election supplies and equipment
The bill authorizes the Elections Commission to award grants to counties and municipalities for the purchase of election supplies and equipment, including electronic poll books.
