AB 300/SB 291: Reporting Election Irregularities

Failed to pass both houses, will not become law this session

This bill would:

• Prohibit the disclosure of personally identifiable information of election officials or election registration officials;
• Make “intentionally causing bodily harm to an election official in that person’s official capacity” a Class I felony; and
• Provides that an election official may not be “discharged, disciplined, demoted or otherwise discriminated against in regard to employment, or threatened with any such treatment” in response to “lawfully report[ing] or is believed to have reported, witnessing what the clerk or election official reasonably believed to be election fraud or irregularities.”

While ACLU-WI appreciates efforts to protect election officials, the bill as currently written does not define election “irregularities” or the “reasonableness” of the belief and does not create a process for election officials to “lawfully report” alleged irregularities. Without outlining the process for how a complaint must be made and to whom, it could allow baseless allegations to cast doubt on the validity and security of an election.