The Assembly Campaigns and Elections Committee moved ahead with a bill to limit the cost to obtain copies of the statewide voter registration list despite concerns people could still use the list for commercial purposes.
Chair Scott Krug, R-Nekoosa, said he wants to make sure his committee doesn’t hold up any election bills that may actually have a chance of getting signed into law and making improvements on election administration. But he also raised concerns during Thursday’s meeting that AB 396 may not make the voter rolls affordable for the general public while ensuring the work to produce the list is funded. He also said he wants to make sure the rolls don’t expose voter phone numbers.
State law now gives the Elections Commission the power to set the fee for obtaining the voter registration list, and it’s now $12,500.
Krug said he considered amending the bill to make it a Class I felony for those who request the rolls for commercial purposes. Penalties would include a maximum 3.5-year prison sentence, up to $10,000 in fines or both.
But he said he realized even with the fine, the price tag is still less than the current $12,500.
Krug told WisPolitics he’s still working on an amendment to create some sort of criminal liability for those who use the list for commercial purposes.
Commercial use entails private entities such as businesses contacting people for solicitation purposes.
Krug also said he’s still working with Senate Shared Revenue, Elections and Consumer Protection Committee Chair Dan Knodl, R-Germantown, on the cost cap on a customized version of the voter rolls. Krug said he just wants to make sure the cap covers the actual cost for the Wisconsin Elections Commission to produce such extensive records.
A custom version of the list allows people to request a certain portion of the voter list without getting the entire list. It also allows people to request previous voter lists.
He also said he thinks the $250 price is too low compared to other states with similar situations.
Rep. Lee Snodgrass, D-Appleton, said she shares Krug’s concerns and fellow Dem Rep. Lisa Subeck, of Madison, said she’s likely a “no” on the measure even if the amendment comes through before it’s scheduled for the Assembly floor.
Subeck said she agrees the cost, commercial use and phone number redaction issues should be handled, but she wants to dive deeper into the actual cost to WEC to produce the rolls, among other things.
Dems also worried that a bill aiming to block indefinitely confined voters from casting ballots without having to show a voter ID would deter voters who have a hard time getting to the polls.
Rep. Lisa Subeck questioned why bill author Rep. Cindi Duchow, R-Town of Delafield, didn’t draft legislation to change Wisconsin’s voter ID law if her main concern was indefinitely confined voters in the 2020 election failing to comply with voter ID law. She also said the bill’s requirement for indefinitely confined voters to annually claim their status along with a new definition of indefinitely confined might deter voters with health issues from voting altogether.
AB 494 would change the definition of indefinitely confined status to “those who cannot travel independently without significant burden because of frailty, physical illness, or a disability that is expected to last longer than one year.”
Current law allows any voter who feels they are indefinitely confined because of age, physical illness, infirmity or are disabled for an indefinite period.
Duchow criticized the policy for allowing voters to circumvent voter ID law, which requires electors to show some form of state-issued identification to vote.
Duchow also said there is a need for allowing indefinitely confined voters to cast ballots without voting in person, but she said more than 48,000 voters took advantage of it during the pandemic. She said many of them were just making claims because it was more convenient than voting in person on election day.
“Particularly during COVID, I was standing in line at Home Depot with 500 other people buying mulch,” she said. “So those people were not indefinitely confined. So, the people that were indefinitely confined were people that were probably never going to leave their home and indefinitely confined means ‘I’m not leaving.'”
Gov. Tony Evers vetoed similar legislation last session, but Duchow said this version is slightly different because it would require clerks to remove voters from indefinitely confined status if they cast a ballot in person.
