Wisconsin Lawmakers Appear Ready to Override Wisconsin Elections Commission Once Again
July 21, 2022 | Wisconsin
It is going to be another scolding for the Wisconsin Elections Commission.
The Legislature’s Joint Committee for Review of Administrative Rules will meet on Wednesday to consider new rules for ballot curing.
Curing is when local election clerks fill in missing information on ballots, rather than toss them aside as incomplete. The Election Commission’s guidance says clerks can add that information without contacting the voter.
Lawmakers want to make it clear that the Elections Commission cannot do that.
Last week, Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu wrote to JCRAR chiefs Sen. Steve Nass, R-Whitewater, and Rep. Adam Neylon, asking them to suspend the Elections’ Commission guidance.
He quoted state law in his request.
“Agencies are required to promulgate rules through Wisconsin’s Administrative Procedure Act, which reads in relevant part: ‘No agency may implement or enforce any standard, requirement, or threshold … unless that standard, requirement, or threshold is explicitly required or explicitly permitted by statute,’” LeMahieu wrote.
The Elections Commission has faced questions and pushback about its guidance to local election clerks across the state.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court earlier this month ruled against the Commission’s guidance in 2020 that allowed cities, counties, and towns to use ballot drop boxes… (Excerpt from The Wisconsin Daily Star)
