��April 2024 �Constitutional Amendment �Referendum Questions
Michael Haas – Madison City Attorney
League of Women Voters – February 27, 2024
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Administration of Elections at the Local Level
Role of Municipal Clerks
1850 municipal clerks in Wisconsin.
Two-thirds are part-time employees and 25% turn over every year.
Must be an expert in election law, budgeting, staffing, purchasing, logistics and facilities management, IT and cybersecurity, public relations and public health (as a part-time gig preserving democracy while the whole world looks over your shoulder).
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Administration of Elections at the Local Level
Complexities
Help America Vote Act of 2002 – electronic voter registration system, voting equipment certification, accessibility of elections.
Transition from no voter registration in most municipalities to electronic voter registration and multiple data checks on individual voters.
Detailed and complex Photo ID and absentee voting laws and continuous court decisions.
Election Administration Manual = 250 pages
ED Manual = 200 pages.
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Administration of Elections at the Local Level
Federal Funding
Federal funding is sporadic, unpredictable and restricted, and has limited impact for municipalities.
Original HAVA funding included $57 million for Wisconsin to support state-level initiatives related to voter registration list, voting equipment certification and accessibility.
Since 2018, Congress has allocated another $17.2 million to Wisconsin for election security needs. WEC has distributed almost $10.2 million to counties and municipalities in grants of a few hundred dollars up to $1200 each.
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Administration of Elections at the Local Level��������
State and Local Funding
Election funding for municipalities is from property tax revenue and State shared revenue and is restricted by levy limits and the shared revenue formula.
2024 Election Budgets
Madison (pop. 283,000) Est. $2M (2020 Grant = 1.27M)
Sun Prairie (pop. 37,800) $277,306 (2020 Grant = $31,000)
Town of Medina (pop. 1,450) $5,000 (2020 Grant = $5,000)
Budget figures do not include capital costs for voting equipment purchases. Demands on clerks have only increased with more technology, security concerns, misinformation and public scrutiny.
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Private Election Grants in 2020
April 2020 Presidential Primary
Loss of poll workers, PPE scarcity, major increase in absentee voting, confusion regarding photo ID requirement, absentee voting timelines and uncertainty about whether election would be held.
Grant funds were intended to assist municipalities in conducting elections during the COVID 19 pandemic in the wake of the April Presidential Primary and the uncertainty of the pandemic’s trajectory when there was not yet a vaccine available.
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Private Election Grants in 2020
City of Madison accepted $1.27 million in grant funds from CTCL to be used for August and November elections.
Poll worker recruitment/hazard pay/training $711,183
Temporary staffing support $122,203
Polling place rental and cleaning $114,354
Nonpartisan voter education $88,866
Election administration equipment $80,295
Absentee ballot drop boxes $62,035
PPE for staff, poll workers and voters $52,709
Drive-through voting $31,499
Absentee voting equipment/supplies $5,419
Clerk’s Office real estate costs $3,226
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Private Election Grants in 2020
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Private Election Grants in 2024
City of Madison accepted 2023 – 2024 election grants totaling $1.5 million from CTCL to be spent by the end of 2024.
City is purchasing equipment and technology to allow high-speed sorting and assembly of absentee ballot mailings.
Equipment will replace much of the cost of hiring temporary staff to prepare absentee ballot mailings – up to $140,000 per election -- and will be much more efficient and accurate.
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Effect of Question 1
Would prohibit the use of any private grant funds or equipment donated by a private organization.
What about free use of non-governmental polling places/equipment at churches, VFW halls?
Does the prohibition include donations of food and refreshments for poll workers? Or only if the donation is by cash instead of food?
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Concerns About Question 1
Private grant funds have only been used for nonpartisan election administration purposes that would have been valid expenditures of public funds.
Private grants fill gaps in scarce and unpredictable funding at federal, state and local levels.
Private grants lessen burden on taxpayers.
Public-private partnerships are common and essential in other aspects of local government (e.g., Overture Center, Olbrich Botanical Gardens, Goodman Pool, Library and Park Foundations, police K-9 and mounted patrol units).
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Question 2 Impetus
City of Green Bay 2020 General Election
National Vote at Home organization provided consultant to City to assist with Central Count operation and other election tasks. Made recommendations to City staff regarding CC training manual and best practices for early voting site and CC logistics. Initially assisted CC workers on Election Day until directed by WEC to stop those activities.
Post-election report concluded that consultant had no decision making authority and did not assist with any matters involving actual ballots.
This incident appears to be the sole motivation for the proposed constitutional amendment.
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Question 2 Legal Interpretation
Who are election officials that could complete election tasks?
Under current law, election officials are municipal and county clerks, election inspectors (poll workers) and members of the canvass boards.
What conduct is prohibited by individuals who are not election officials?
“Tasks in the conduct of primaries, elections and referendum.”
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Concerns About Question 2
Proposes a solution in search of a problem.
Does not clearly define election officials or affected tasks. Do those terms include work completed by staff of the municipal clerk’s office? Do they include work of staff of other agencies who assist with preparing for the election, securing supplies, setting up polling places, maintaining secure IT services, transporting ballots and other election materials? What about voting equipment vendors or other contractors?
Currently the Wisconsin Constitution only establishes voter and candidate eligibility requirements, authorizes the Legislature to pass laws related to elections, and creates a right to recall. Questions 1 and 2 would insert policy decisions in the Constitution which are not related to fundamental rights and qualifications of electors, candidates or elected officials. Do these policies really belong in the Constitution?
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Contact
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