An Assembly committee voted 5-2 along party lines to recommend killing proposed standards for election observers over GOP concerns they lacked penalties for local officials who fail to follow the rules.
Representatives of the state Elections Commission, which proposed the administrative rules, testified last month they don’t have the authority to propose penalties for local elections officials as part of the package and that would have to be done through legislation.
State Rep. Scott Krug, R-Nekoosa, told the Assembly Campaigns and Elections Committee Tuesday he is working on legislation that includes the changes the commission proposed in its rules package. But his bill will add the penalties Republicans want to ensure local officials have “skin in the game” when it comes to following rules for election observers.
Krug also told the committee he is also urging GOP leadership to use legislation instead of the rules process in general as a court challenge plays out to the authority of the Joint Committee for Review of Administrative Rules. He said that case has left Republicans in limbo.
Rep. Lee Snodgrass, D-Appleton, expressed frustration that the committee was voting against the rules package, considering the bipartisan work that was put into it.
“Don’t you think that it’s your party that has really used the administrative rules committee as a place for things to go wither and die, and it’s a convenient parking space for things you don’t want to deal with?” she asked.
The proposed rules, which have been in the works for more than two years, include standards such as when events at a polling site can be recorded or what observers can do when ballots are cast in a care facility.
Last session, Republicans approved legislation that sought to allow election observers to be within 3 feet of poll workers rather than the current standard of no closer than 3 feet and no more than 8 feet. Dem Gov. Tony Evers wrote in his veto message that change would increase the chances observers would intimidate voters and interfere with the ability of election officials to do their jobs.
Krug told WisPolitics after the hearing that he’s still working on his bill draft, including what penalties he will propose for officials who fail to follow the standards. Krug said he hoped Evers would be willing to negotiate with lawmakers on that provision, adding the bill won’t include proposals from last session’s legislation that Evers vetoed.
“My goal is I want these rules passed. I want them signed,” Krug said. “I know that if it’s something the governor has already vetoed, we’re not going to have anything for observers.”
The committee’s vote now goes to the Joint Committee for Review of Administrative Rules. That body has the power to approve, suspend or modify the package.
But GOP lawmakers are awaiting a state Supreme Court ruling that could impact the committee’s power. The court in January heard arguments in Evers’ lawsuit challenging JCRAR’s power to suspend indefinitely a policy that would act as a de facto ban on conversion therapy and commercial building code rules promulgated by the Department of Safety and Professional Services.
