The troubled vote regulator in the Badger State continues to have issues with clarity.  ,
The Wisconsin Elections Commission ( WEC ) is facing possible legal repercussions for its refusal to turn over records related to the instructions WEC gave local election clerks regarding same-day registration safeguards.  ,
The commission issued updated guidance in February 2023, according to a lawsuit filed by the Public Interest Legal Foundation ( PILF), but it has blocked PILF’s records requests for information regarding the creation of the guidance for “at least 397 days.”
” Same-Day Voter Registration is now a vote now recognize after system”, J. Christian Adams, president of the election integrity regulator, said in a speech. By concealing vote records, Wisconsin is causing more doubt to come into its election process. The federal laws governing accountability of elections needs to be applied to Wisconsin. Propaganda and hostility are promoted when the vote process is hidden from the public.
The National Conference of State Legislatures says that Wisconsin is one of 23 state and the District of Columbia that permit voters to record and put a ballot the same day. Wisconsin election day voters in person must provide valid photo identification.  ,
While communist voting activists claim that same-day membership increases voter turnout, election integrity advocates claim that the income opens the door to vote management chaos and fraud.
Matters of Great Public Importance
Same-day voting registration does come with required safeguards in the Badger State, including a critique or assessment to determine the authenticity of the same-day registrant’s target. Election officials may determine which licenses should be inactive and referred to law enforcement for voting fraud investigation.  ,
After each election, WEC is required to fax letters to all citizens who used same-day membership. Election officials may look into the cards that are returned to nearby clerk offices as “undeliverable” if the returned letters are returned. If they are unable to identify a supply issue within the U.S. Staff are required to neutralize the vote name and refer the issue to the nearby district attorney for further investigation if there is a mistake in the target that needs to be corrected.  ,
The Elections Commission, in accordance with the complaint, issued the updated advice to local clerks in February 2023, outlining the” circumstances in which clerks may and should not cancel voter registration records and circumstances in which clerks should and should not send registrants to area attorneys for more analysis.”
In its plea for a petition of writ, PILF requests that the Dane County judge order WEC to relieve the requested information, stating that” the Guidance therefore concerns the right to vote and election acts, things of great people importance.”  ,
‘ Public Records System was Failing ‘ ,
PILF’s Logan Churchwell sent a public records request on Sept. 15, 2023 seeking the records, the lawsuit states. He requested copies of all communications between the regulator and nongovernmental organizations and third parties regarding the guidance, communications between the commission and legislative offices, and communications between the regulator and local clerks.  ,
Churchwell was informed by the organization that it had received his records request quickly, but the foundation was not contacted for any further information. Nearly a month later, Churchwell asked for an update. Silence. He requested a second update on the status of his filing two weeks later. WEC failed to respond again. In mid-November, PILF received an email from a commission attorney, who said the “public records system was failing to send message alerts to appropriate staff”, according to the complaint. Churchwell was given a message from the WEC attorney via his WEC email, but Churchwell was informed that there was a backlog of more than 60 requests and that the foundation’s request was in the back of the line. The attorney also requested that PILF provide more details in its request, despite the complaint’s claim that state open records laws do n’t require such details.  ,
Near the end of the year, the commission finally responded with preliminary results showing nearly 7, 300 “responsive” documents, or records that were relevant to PILF’s requests. But the delays and stonewalling, the complaint notes, went on and on.  ,
” As of the date of this Petition, WEC has failed to fulfill the Foundations ‘ Request, deny the Request, explain its delay, ask for further clarification, or provide an update or a timeline for responding”, the lawsuit states.  ,
Wisconsin’s open records law makes clear that” ]e ] ach authority, upon request for any record, shall, as soon as practicable and without delay, either fill the request or notify the requester of the authority’s determination to deny the request in whole or in part and the reasons therefor” . ,
“]C] ompliance at some unidentified time in the future, is not authorized by the open records law”, the statute states.
The lawsuit contends that PILF is entitled to file a “mandamus request for the court to order release” of the records because WEC has failed to fulfill the request or provide an explanation for why it cannot in a timely manner.  ,
‘ This is Bad ‘
The Foundation sued Wisconsin’s special exemption from the National Voter Registration Act’s public disclosure provision in a separate federal lawsuit, The Federalist reported earlier this year. The lawsuit contends that the Wisconsin carvedout is in violation of the right to equal state sovereignty and should be quashed.  ,
In April, PILF filed a complaint alleging Green Bay’s city clerk, Celestine Jeffreys, ignored laws aimed at detecting abuse of the Badger State’s same-day registration process. In the end, Jeffreys acknowledged that she had not strictly adhered to the Wisconsin Statutes, but that the failure was unintended and due to a lack of awareness of the requirements.
In other words, she did n’t understand the law on vetting same-day voter registrants that she is obliged to follow.  ,
” This is bad”, said Lauren Bowman Bis, PILF’s director of communications, told The Federalist in May. People must trust their elected officials in a certain way. For her to not be following the law, not even knowing the law, … is unbelievable”. She added that Jeffreys ‘ inaction” could be easily used for fraud and abuse” ( ).
” It’s not often you have an elected official admit she does n’t know the law”, the spokeswoman said. ” Wisconsin is a critical state]in the 2024 election ] … This does n’t just affect the people in Green Bay or Wisconsin. We all want faith in our elections, that the rules are being followed. In Green Bay, that’s not the case” . ,
Jeffreys has a history of having issues with electoral law. In the 2022 spring election, the state elections commission discovered that Jeffreys had broken the law when she accepted multiple absentee ballots cast in her place in December.
For more election news and updates, visit , electionbriefing.com.
The Federalist’s senior elections correspondent, Matt Kittle, is. An award-winning investigative reporter and 30-year veteran of print, broadcast, and online journalism, Kittle previously served as the executive director of Empower Wisconsin.