AB 426/SB 441: Criminalizing Election Officials

Current law allows any member of the public to observe the conduct of an election at a polling place or at a site for voting by absentee ballot in person. An individual may also observe the canvassing of absentee ballots. The observation areas must be positioned to allow any observer the ability to “observe all public aspects of the voting process.”

After years of bipartisan work by the Wisconsin Election Commission and a 24-person advisory committee made up of municipal clerks, poll workers, political parties, disability advocates, and other organizations, an administrative rule was published providing more specificity to procedures relating to election observers.

This bill requires the municipal clerk, chief inspector, and board of canvassers to provide election observers uniform and nondiscriminatory access to all stages of the election process. If an election official “violates” that broad and undefined provision, they may be imprisoned in the county jail for not more than 90 days or fined not more than $1,000 or both.

At a time when election officials are leaving their jobs at unprecedented levels due to stress, harassment, and threats resulting from election deniers, this bill’s threat of criminal penalties for alleged violations of the bill’s provisions will exacerbate these challenges faced by clerks’ offices.