Republicans are set to introduce a sweeping package of election bills this week that would allow for Monday processing of absentee ballots and impose new security measures for ballot drop boxes statewide.
“We’ve worked really hard with stakeholders across the spectrum, whether it’s voting groups in Milwaukee or county clerks association, Democrats in the Legislature, even talking to the governor’s office about almost everything that’s been in these bills. To say we haven’t done our homework or that these are just Republican wish list ideas, I think that would be a stretch,” GOP state Rep. Scott Krug, the vice chair of the Assembly elections committee, told WISN-TV’s “UpFront,” which is produced in partnership with WisPolitics. “I think it’s fair to say that some of these things Republicans may not like either.”
The largest bill includes multiple election-related issues. One item would allow election officials to begin processing absentee ballots the day before an election — a bipartisan effort that has passed the Assembly but failed in the Senate.
“I have to remain hopeful,” Krug said. “Now that we combine it with other ideas, we’d have to revisit that support, but I think Republicans can get behind this in the Legislature, and we’ll have a good caucus discussion on what all these things mean.”
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Along with Monday processing, the bill includes numerous security changes for absentee ballot drop boxes, including requiring 24-hour video surveillance that must be livestreamed on a municipality’s website. Ballots would also need to be transferred from the drop box to the storage facility under the constant supervision of a law enforcement officer.
“Because of the makeup of the Supreme Court, we know drop boxes aren’t going anywhere,” Krug said. “So people have said we’re OK with the idea of drop boxes as long as we have some standards, so we have some rules in place. There will be some communities where it’s hard for them to reach some of these standards. For example, in my home county of Adams County, my town of Adams may have a problem getting 24-7 livestreaming of drop boxes available on a website. But that’s why we also address that in our security grants bill to make sure that we have a great grant program available for communities who may not be able to afford those standards.”
The bill also imposes a fine for anyone, other than a voter or witness, to make changes or corrections to a defect in the voter’s absentee ballot certificate.
Separate legislation would create a grant program for municipalities to help pay for security upgrades; another makes changes for election observers.
“The biggest change we have in the observer rule bill is making sure on Election Day, if there’s a conflict between an inspector and an observer at a polling place, right now the only resolution for either of those parties is to complete a form with WEC, have WEC go back and review it up to 90 days after the election to say OK, this was done right, or this was done wrong. Under this bill in the observer package, we set up the county clerk or their designee as an independent third party on Election Day to resolve disputes, so if an inspector has an issue with an observer and they can’t figure it out, the polling place, the power of the county clerk of their designee, you can see, hey, this is being enforced.”
Also on the program, Sen. Kelda Roys says she’ll continue using words like “extreme” to describe President Donald Trump and his administration despite the continued fallout from the murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
“What happened …was horrific, and there is no excuse ever for violence, not against political leaders, not against people we disagree with, not against kids in school or people going to church or the mall or anywhere else,” the Dem gubernatorial candidate told “UpFront.” “We have got to stop the political violence in this country and the violence in general. But we have to be honest about what is happening in this country, and when you see a president as reckless and lawless as the one currently at the helm, who is disregarding due process, thinks that the Constitution and the laws of this country do not apply to him and his allies, is using the presidency and weaponizing our government against Americans to line his own pockets and punish his perceived enemies, I don’t know what to call that but extreme. And I think that a lot of the struggles that people are having with the Democratic Party is that they feel like too many leaders are unwilling to say the truth.”
Roys, of Madison, calls herself a “common-sense Democrat” when asked to describe herself to the other Democrats in the 2026 race for governor.
“I’ve spent my whole career, not just my five years in the Senate, traveling around the state, listening to people and hearing their concerns,” Roys said.
Roys, a member of the powerful budget-writing committee, voted against the most recent state budget and said she would push to raise taxes on “billionaires and big corporations” if elected governor.
“I think there’s a lot we can do in getting new revenue sources, like for instance, legalizing, taxing and regulating cannabis the way that every other state around us has already done,” she said. “We’re leaving hundreds of millions of dollars on the table, sending it to Illinois and Michigan because our Republicans have dragged their feet on that. We also have let billionaires and big corporations get away with paying nothing or even getting big bailouts from the state government. Meanwhile, you and I and every other taxpayer are footing the bill for that kind of irresponsible fiscal budgeting. So we really have to restore this idea that everybody has to pay our fair share and to take the tax burden off the working class and the middle class.”
In another segment, the newest Democratic candidate for governor in the race, state Rep. Francesca Hong, says higher taxes for all Wisconsinites is not “something we’re working towards at all” as her campaign pushes for increased education funding and universal child care.
“My tax plan is working towards building tax fairness,” Hong, D-Madison, told “UpFront.” “And I think that is going to be defined; we have to figure out how to meet those metrics and select those metrics, so everyone having higher taxes, I don’t think that’s going to be something we’re working towards at all. That’s what we want to avoid. This is about fair taxation.
“Wisconsin is one of the places where progressive taxes were born,” Hong added. “When we have fair taxation, where the other top of the tax bracket is paying their fair share, that we are focusing and also being innovative of how to raise revenues, whether that’s decriminalizing cannabis or making sure that we are expanding Medicaid, we’re going to have challenges. But now is a time where incrementalism is irresponsible, and we need to bring in as many ideas as we can.”
Hong is a Democratic Socialist and one of four Democrats in the Assembly who are part of the Socialist caucus.
“I’m a single mom, very proud service industry worker, a community organizer and a working class person right now,” Hong said. “I think a lot of the struggles that I’m having, regardless of my title as state rep, allows me to start a lot of conversations with folks regardless of where they might identify politically. But that also requires me going into spaces like bowling alleys, dive bars, pro wrestling matches, and striking up conversations with folks after I make fun of them for having a Miller Lite instead of a High Life like I am. This happened in Chippewa Falls, where I had a gentleman share his story about how concerned he was that his 90-year-old mother wasn’t going to the hospital that she’s been to every week because our hospitals in western Wisconsin have closed.”
