MADISON, Wis. — The Committee of State Affairs is scheduled to hear 14 election bills today that were scheduled for a public hearing just last week by Legislative Republicans.
Democratic members of the Committee expressed significant concerns regarding this package that is aimed at making it more difficult for Wisconsinites to exercise their right to vote, increasing burdens on local elections officials, and increasing the influence of politicians and politically motivated groups into Wisconsin’s elections.
The Committee’s ranking Democratic member, Rep. Christine Sinicki (D-Milwaukee), said of the bill package, “Protecting the right to vote should be a nonpartisan issue, but Republicans seem to be more interested in restricting access to voting. The bills in front of the committee today are yet another blatant attempt to impose a political agenda and partisan control over our nonpartisan elections process.”
Rep. Tod Ohnstad (D-Kenosha) added, “Many of the bills we will hear today seem to be an attempt to make it harder to vote. They seek to change the rules in order to change the results of elections.”
Rep. Tip McGuire (D-Kenosha) went on to say, “Apparently, after coming up empty in their quest to overturn the 2020 election through a never-ending parade of recounts, lawsuits, and partisan investigations, Republicans believe they deserve more partisan control over elections in Wisconsin.” He continued, “This is a ridiculous response that Wisconsinites have not asked for. We instead should leave the administration of our elections to independent agencies and our local city and county clerks.”
Rep. Sondy Pope (D-Mt. Horeb) reported, “I continue to hear from hard-working election officials who report that resources and manpower are already stretched to their limits. This Republican package implements baseless administrative burdens that do nothing to improve the security of our elections.” She continued, “Our clerks would rather that we provide adequate funding to ensure the election process is secure, safe, and fair. They do not need more hoops and hurdles.”
“These bills are all about political games and not at all about doing what is best for the people of Wisconsin,” Rep. Sinicki said in summary.
The public hearing on these bills will be streaming live on WisconsinEye at 1:00pm. It is expected that the Senate versions of these bills will be taken up by the full Assembly on Thursday, one week after they were introduced.
