GOP lawmakers today began circulating a constitutional amendment that would bar the use of private funds to cover the costs of election administration.
The amendment would bar state and local officials from accepting any donation or grant for election administration and ban the use of private resources for election administration.
It also would ban anyone other than an election official designated by law from performing any tasks related to election administration.
The co-authors wrote in an email seeking cosponsors the amendment was inspired by grants from the Center for Tech and Civic Life, funded largely by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. While close to 200 communities in Wisconsin received something from the group, the bulk of the money went to the state’s five largest cities.
Money to the big cities has been a target of Republican complaints.
The proposal would have to pass both houses of the Legislature in back-to-back sessions before it could go to the voters for a referendum. The guv has no role in the process.
See the amendment here.
Another constitutional amendment being circulated today would add a requirement that voters have to present a photo ID from the state, federal government, a federally recognized tribe, or college or university.
The amendment calls for acceptable forms of ID to be spelled out in state law, and it would allow the state Legislature to pass laws creating exceptions.
Republicans approved a voter ID law in 2011 before it was put on hold by the courts. The requirement eventually took effect in 2015. Following a series of court rulings, the state created a process to allow those unable to produce the needed documents to obtain an ID to petition for an exception to the requirement.
See the amendment here.
