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March 16, 2021 - Introduced by Senators Stafsholt, Stroebel, Darling and Feyen,
cosponsored by Representatives Tauchen, Gundrum and Loudenbeck.
Referred to Committee on Elections, Election Process Reform and Ethics.
SB214,1,6 1An Act to repeal 8.20 (8) (am); to amend 5.25 (2), 5.84 (1), 7.15 (1) (cm), 7.52
2(1) (a), 7.52 (2), 7.52 (3) (a), 7.52 (4) (a) and 8.20 (8) (a); and to create 6.19, 7.52
3(1) (d) to (g) and 7.52 (10) of the statutes; relating to: early canvassing of
4absentee ballots, issuance of presidential ballots, combined polling places,
5timeline for sending or transmitting absentee ballots, nomination papers for
6certain independent candidates, and providing a penalty.
Analysis by the Legislative Reference Bureau
Early canvassing of absentee ballots
Under current law, absentee ballots may not be canvassed until election day.
Also under current law, any municipality may provide by ordinance that, in lieu of
canvassing absentee ballots at polling places, a municipal board of absentee ballot
canvassers established by the municipality is responsible for canvassing all absentee
ballots received by the municipal clerk by 8 p.m. on election day. In such a
municipality, the board of absentee ballot canvassers is required to convene a
meeting any time after the polls open and before 10 p.m. on election day to canvass
the absentee ballots cast in the municipality in the election. Among the
requirements governing such a meeting, any member of the public has the same right
of access to the meeting that the individual would have to observe the canvassing of
absentee ballots at a polling place.

This bill authorizes the municipal board of absentee ballot canvassers in such
a municipality to begin canvassing absentee ballots on the day before an election,
subject to the following requirements:
1. The board must convene its meeting no earlier than 7 a.m. on the day before
the election nor later than 10 p.m. on election day. The meeting must continue until
all absentee ballots have been counted, except that, if the meeting convenes on the
day before the election, the meeting must adjourn no later than 10 p.m. that day and
must reconvene no earlier than 7 a.m. on election day.
2. At least daily while ballots are being canvassed, the municipal clerk or his
or her designee must post, at his or her office and on the Internet at a site announced
by the clerk before canvassing begins, and must make available to any person upon
request, a statement that shows the number of absentee ballots that the board has
canvassed and the number of absentee ballots remaining to be canvassed.
3. If the meeting of the board of absentee ballot canvassers convenes and then
adjourns on the day before the election, the board is required to secure the automatic
tabulating equipment, and the areas where the programmed media, memory
devices, and absentee ballots are housed, with tamper-evident security seals in a
double-lock location such as a locked cabinet inside a locked office. Before resuming
the canvassing of absentee ballots on election day, the board must check and record
the status of each tamper-evident seal and must immediately notify the Elections
Commission of any evidence of tampering. If the board discovers evidence of
tampering with respect to automatic tabulating equipment, the canvass may not
resume until after the equipment is replaced and tested in the manner provided by
law. Also, if the board discovers evidence of tampering, after the election, the
municipality is required conduct a recount in the manner provided by law and must
audit the election equipment to verify the accuracy of the absentee ballot count.
4. Absentee ballots canvassed under the bill may not be tallied until after the
canvass is complete or after the polls close on election day, whichever is later.
5. No person may act in a 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 under the bill before the canvass is complete or before the polls close on
election day, whichever is later. Whoever intentionally violates that prohibition is
guilty of a Class I felony, the penalty for which is a fine not to exceed $10,000 or
imprisonment not to exceed three years and six months, or both.
Finally, under current law, criminal penalties are provided for election officials
who commit certain specified kinds of election fraud. Otherwise, the willful neglect
or refusal of an election official to perform a duty prescribed under the election laws
is punishable by disqualification to act as an election official for five years. Under
the bill, a member of the municipal board of absentee ballot canvassers or other
election official who willfully neglects or refuses to perform any of the duties
prescribed under the bill, and other duties prescribed under current law, with respect
to the canvassing of absentee ballots by a municipal board of absentee ballot
canvassers is guilty of a Class I felony.

Issuance of presidential ballots
Under current law, certain new and former residents of Wisconsin may apply
for and receive a ballot for the purpose of voting only for candidates for president and
vice president at a presidential election in Wisconsin. This bill prohibits poll workers
and other election officials from providing a ballot used for voting for the offices of
president and vice president only, unless the elector is a new or former resident of
the state and applies and qualifies for the presidential ballot as provided by law.
Combined polling places
This bill authorizes any city, village, or town with a population of less than
35,000 to enter into an agreement to share a polling place with an adjacent city,
village, or town also having a population of less than 35,000.
Timeline for sending or transmitting absentee ballots
Current law requires a municipal clerk to send an absentee ballot for each
partisan primary, presidential preference primary, and general election to all
electors requesting the ballot, including military and overseas electors, no later than
the 47th day before the partisan primary, presidential preference primary, or general
election or, if the request is not made before that day, within one business day after
the request is received. For all other primaries and elections, the municipal clerk
must send or transmit the absentee ballot no later than the 21st day before the
primary or election or, if the request is not made before that day, within one business
day after the request is received.
Under this bill, a municipal clerk must send or transmit an absentee ballot for
all primaries and elections, regardless of the type of primary or election, to electors
other than military and overseas electors no later than the 21st day before the
primary or election or, if the request is not made before that day, within one business
day after the request is received. Under the bill, a municipal clerk must send or
transmit an absentee ballot for all primaries and elections, regardless of the type of
primary or election, to military and overseas electors no later than the 45th day
before the primary or election or, if the request is not made before that day, within
one business day after the request is received. That 45th day timeline is consistent
with federal law.
Nomination papers for certain independent candidates
Under current law, nomination papers for independent candidates for any
office to be voted upon at a general election, except president and vice president, may
be circulated no sooner than the April 15 preceding the general election and must be
filed no later than 5 p.m. on the June 1 preceding the partisan primary, which is held
on the second Tuesday in August preceding the general election. Under current law,
nomination papers for independent candidates for president and vice president may
be circulated no sooner than the July 1 preceding the general election and must be
filed no later than 5 p.m. on the first Tuesday in August preceding a presidential
election.
Under this bill, the timeline for circulating and filing nomination papers for
independent candidates for president and vice president is the same as that for all
other independent candidates for offices to be voted on at the general election:

nomination papers may be circulated no sooner than the April 15 preceding the
general election and must be filed no later than the June 1 preceding the partisan
primary.
Because this bill creates a new crime or revises a penalty for an existing crime,
the Joint Review Committee on Criminal Penalties may be requested to prepare a
report.
For further information see the state and local fiscal estimate, which will be
printed as an appendix to this bill.
The people of the state of Wisconsin, represented in senate and assembly, do
enact as follows:
SB214,1 1Section 1. 5.25 (2) of the statutes is amended to read:
SB214,4,72 5.25 (2) In cities over 500,000 population, polling shall be at the places
3established by the board of election commissioners. In all other cities and in villages
4and towns, polling shall be at the places established by the governing body. The
5governing body of any city, village, or town with a population of less than 35,000 may
6enter into an agreement to share a polling place with an adjacent city, village, or town
7also having a population of less than 35,000.
SB214,2 8Section 2. 5.84 (1) of the statutes is amended to read:
SB214,5,99 5.84 (1) Where any municipality employs an electronic voting system which
10utilizes automatic tabulating equipment, either at the polling place or at a central
11counting location,
the municipal clerk shall, on any day not more than 10 days prior
12to the election day on which the equipment is to be utilized in an election, have the
13equipment tested to ascertain that it will correctly count the votes cast for all offices
14and on all measures. Public notice of the time and place of the test shall be given by
15the clerk at least 48 hours prior to the test by publication of a class 1 notice under
16ch. 985 in one or more newspapers published within the municipality if a newspaper
17is published therein, otherwise in a newspaper of general circulation therein. The
18test shall be open to the public. The test shall be conducted by processing a

1preaudited group of ballots so marked as to record a predetermined number of valid
2votes for each candidate and on each referendum. The test shall include for each
3office one or more ballots which have votes in excess of the number allowed by law
4and, for a partisan primary election, one or more ballots which have votes cast for
5candidates of more than one recognized political party, in order to test the ability of
6the automatic tabulating equipment to reject such votes. If any error is detected, the
7municipal clerk shall ascertain the cause and correct the error. The clerk shall make
8an errorless count before the automatic tabulating equipment is approved by the
9clerk for use in the election.
SB214,3 10Section 3. 6.19 of the statutes is created to read:
SB214,5,13 116.19 Presidential ballots. (1) In this section, “presidential ballot” means a
12ballot that allows an elector to vote only for candidates for president and vice
13president.
SB214,5,16 14(2) No election inspector or other election official may provide a presidential
15ballot to an elector for voting at a presidential election, except as provided under ss.
166.15 and 6.18.
SB214,4 17Section 4. 7.15 (1) (cm) of the statutes is amended to read:
SB214,6,918 7.15 (1) (cm) Prepare official absentee ballots for delivery to electors requesting
19them, and except as provided in this paragraph, send an official absentee ballot to
20each elector who has requested a ballot by mail, and
to each military elector, as
21defined in s. 6.34 (1), and overseas elector who has requested a ballot by mail,
22electronic mail, or facsimile transmission, no later than the 47th 45th day before
23each partisan primary, presidential preference primary, special primary or election,
24and general election and no later than the 21st day before each other primary and
25election if the request is made before that day
; otherwise, the municipal clerk shall

1send or transmit an official absentee ballot within one business day of the time the
2military or overseas elector's request for such a ballot is received. The clerk shall
3send or transmit an absentee ballot for the presidential preference primary to each
4elector who has requested that
to all other electors requesting a ballot no later than
5the 47th 21st day before the presidential preference primary or election if the request
6is made before that day, or, if the request is not made before that day, within one
7business day of the time the request is received. For purposes of this paragraph,
8“business day" means any day from Monday to Friday, not including a legal holiday
9under s. 995.20.
SB214,5 10Section 5. 7.52 (1) (a) of the statutes is amended to read:
SB214,7,811 7.52 (1) (a) The governing body of any municipality may provide by ordinance
12that, in lieu of canvassing absentee ballots at polling places under s. 6.88, the
13municipal board of absentee ballot canvassers designated under s. 7.53 (2m) shall,
14at each election held in the municipality, canvass all absentee ballots received by the
15municipal clerk by 8 p.m. on election day. Prior to enacting an ordinance under this
16subsection, the municipal clerk or board of election commissioners of the
17municipality shall notify the elections commission in writing of the proposed
18enactment and shall consult with the elections commission concerning
19administration of this section. At every election held in the municipality following
20enactment of an ordinance under this subsection, the board of absentee ballot
21canvassers shall, any time after the opening of the polls and before 10 p.m. on election
22day,
publicly convene a meeting no earlier than 7 a.m. on the day before the election
23nor later than 10 p.m. on election day
to count the absentee ballots for the
24municipality. The meeting shall continue until all absentee ballots received by the
25municipal clerk by 8 p.m. on election day have been counted, except that, if the

1meeting convenes on the day before the election, the meeting shall adjourn no later
2than 10 p.m. that day and shall reconvene no earlier than 7 a.m. on election day.
The
3municipal clerk shall give at least 48 hours' notice of any the meeting under this
4subsection. Any member of the public has the same right of access to a meeting of
5the municipal board of absentee ballot canvassers under this subsection that the
6individual would have under s. 7.41 to observe the proceedings at a polling place. The
7board of absentee ballot canvassers may order the removal of any individual
8exercising the right to observe the proceedings if the individual disrupts the meeting.
SB214,6 9Section 6. 7.52 (1) (d) to (g) of the statutes are created to read:
SB214,7,1610 7.52 (1) (d) At least daily while ballots are being canvassed under this section,
11the municipal clerk or his or her designee shall post, at his or her office and on the
12Internet at a site announced by the clerk before canvassing begins, and shall make
13available to any person upon request, a statement that shows the number of absentee
14ballots that the board of absentee ballot canvassers has canvassed and the number
15of absentee ballots remaining to be canvassed. The posting may not include the
16names or addresses of any electors.
SB214,8,717 (e) If the meeting of the board of absentee ballot canvassers adjourns on the day
18before the election, as provided under par. (a), the board of absentee ballot canvassers
19shall secure the automatic tabulating equipment, and the areas where the
20programmed media, memory devices, and absentee ballots are housed, with
21tamper-evident security seals in a double-lock location such as a locked cabinet
22inside a locked office. Before resuming the canvassing of ballots on election day, the
23board of absentee ballot canvassers shall check and record the status of each
24tamper-evident seal. The clerk of the board of absentee ballot canvassers shall
25immediately notify the commission of any evidence of tampering. If the board of

1absentee ballot canvassers discovers evidence of tampering with respect to
2automatic tabulating equipment, the canvass may not resume until after the
3equipment is replaced and tested as provided in s. 5.84 (1). If the board of absentee
4ballot canvassers discovers evidence of tampering under this paragraph, after the
5election, the municipality shall conduct a recount in the manner provided under s.
69.01 and audit the election equipment to verify the accuracy of the absentee ballot
7count in the municipality in the election.
SB214,8,98 (f) Absentee ballots canvassed under this section may not be tallied until after
9the canvass is complete or after the polls close on election day, whichever is later.
SB214,8,1410 (g) No person may intentionally act in a manner that would give him or her the
11ability to know or to provide information on the accumulating or final results from
12the ballots canvassed under this section before the canvass is complete or before the
13polls close on election day, whichever is later. Whoever intentionally violates this
14paragraph is guilty of a Class I felony.
SB214,7 15Section 7. 7.52 (2) of the statutes is amended to read:
SB214,9,216 7.52 (2) In counting the absentee ballots, the board of absentee ballot
17canvassers shall use 2 duplicate copies of a single absentee poll list for the entire
18municipality prepared in accordance with s. 6.36 (2). Upon accepting reviewing each
19absentee ballot certificate envelope to ensure that it satisfies all applicable legal
20requirements
, the board of absentee ballot canvassers shall enter a poll list
21sequential count number on the absentee poll list next to the name of the elector who
22voted the ballot, beginning with the number one. If the elector's name does not
23appear on the absentee poll list, the board of absentee ballot canvassers shall enter
24the number on a separate list maintained under this subsection. The board of

1absentee ballot canvassers shall record each elector's sequential count number on
2the face of the elector's certificate envelope.
SB214,8 3Section 8. 7.52 (3) (a) of the statutes is amended to read:
SB214,9,254 7.52 (3) (a) The board of absentee ballot canvassers shall first open the carrier
5envelope only, and, in such a manner that a member of the public, if he or she desired,
6could hear, announce the name of the absent elector or the identification serial
7number of the absent elector if the elector has a confidential listing under s. 6.47 (2).
8When the board of absentee ballot canvassers finds that the certification has been
9properly executed and the applicant is a qualified elector of the ward or election
10district, the board of absentee ballot canvassers shall enter an indication, including
11the elector's sequential count number as provided under sub. (2),
on the absentee poll
12list next to the applicant's name indicating an absentee ballot is cast by the elector.
13The board of absentee ballot canvassers shall then open the envelope containing the
14ballot in a manner so as not to deface or destroy the certification thereon. The board
15of absentee ballot canvassers shall take out the ballot without unfolding it or
16permitting it to be unfolded or examined
and shall remove the ballot from the
17certificate envelope
. Unless the ballot is cast under s. 6.95, the board of absentee
18ballot canvassers shall verify that the ballot has been endorsed by the issuing clerk.
19If the absentee poll list indicates that proof of residence is required and no proof of
20residence is enclosed or the name or address on the document that is provided is not
21the same as the name and address shown on the absentee poll list, the board of
22absentee ballot canvassers shall proceed as provided under s. 6.97 (2). The board of
23absentee ballot canvassers shall mark the poll list number of each elector who casts
24an absentee ballot on the back of the elector's ballot.
The board of absentee ballot
25canvassers shall then deposit the ballot into the proper ballot box and enter the

1absent elector's name or poll list number after his or her name on the poll list
or
2automatic tabulating equipment
.
SB214,9 3Section 9. 7.52 (4) (a) of the statutes is amended to read:
SB214,10,134 7.52 (4) (a) The board of absentee ballot canvassers shall then open the ballot
5box and remove and
count the number of ballots therein without examination except
6as is necessary to ascertain that each is a single ballot. If 2 or more ballots are folded
7together so as to appear as a single ballot, the board of absentee ballot canvassers
8shall lay them aside until the count is completed; and if, after a comparison of the
9count and the appearance of the ballots it appears to the board of absentee ballot
10canvassers that the ballots folded together were voted by the same person they shall
11not be counted but the board of absentee ballot canvassers shall mark them as to the
12reason for removal, set them aside, and carefully preserve them. The board of
13absentee ballot canvassers shall then proceed under par. (b).
SB214,10 14Section 10. 7.52 (10) of the statutes is created to read:
SB214,10,1715 7.52 (10) A member of the board of absentee ballot canvassers or other election
16official who willfully neglects or refuses to perform any of the duties prescribed under
17this section is guilty of a Class I felony.
SB214,11 18Section 11. 8.20 (8) (a) of the statutes is amended to read:
SB214,11,819 8.20 (8) (a) Nomination papers for independent candidates for any office to be
20voted upon at a general election, except president, vice president and presidential
21elector,
may be circulated no sooner than April 15 preceding the election and may be
22filed no later than 5 p.m. on the June 1 preceding the partisan primary, except as
23authorized in this paragraph. If an incumbent fails to file nomination papers and
24a declaration of candidacy by 5 p.m. on June 1 preceding the partisan primary, all
25candidates for the office held by the incumbent, other than the incumbent, may file

1nomination papers no later than 72 hours after the latest time prescribed in this
2paragraph. No extension of the time for filing nomination papers applies if the
3incumbent files written notification with the filing officer or agency with whom
4nomination papers are filed for the office which the incumbent holds, no later than
55 p.m. on the 2nd Friday preceding the latest time prescribed in this paragraph for
6filing nomination papers, that the incumbent is not a candidate for reelection to his
7or her office, and the incumbent does not file nomination papers for that office within
8the time prescribed in this paragraph.
SB214,12 9Section 12. 8.20 (8) (am) of the statutes is repealed.
SB214,11,1010 (End)
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