(The Center Square) – The second-in-command on the Wisconsin Assembly’s elections committee hopes to find enough votes for an Election Day overhaul this fall.
Rep. Scott Krug, R-Rome, went on UpFront over the weekend to talk about his legislation that would allow local clerks to count absentee ballots before the polls close on Election Day.
“I think Republicans can get behind this in the Legislature, and we’ll have a good caucus discussion on what all these things mean,” Krug said.
Krug was able to get his Monday Count legislation through the Assembly last time, but it died in the Senate over fears that counting ballots early could lead to Election Day shenanigans.
Krug said he hopes some tweaks will address those worries.
“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,” Krug said. “I think it’s fair to say that some of these things Republicans may not like either.”
One of the tweaks that Krug is offering is increased security for Wisconsin’s ballot drop boxes.
“Because of the makeup for the Supreme Court, we know drop boxes aren’t going anywhere,” Krug explained. “So, people have said we’re ok with the idea of a drop box as long as we have some standards, so we have some rules in place.”
Krug is suggesting 24/7 surveillance for local drop boxes, and another piece of the legislation would require sheriff’s deputies or police officers to be on-hand when drop box ballots are collected.
Krug is also looking at new options for election observers who want to file a complaint or a challenge.
“Right now, the only resolution for either of those parties is to complete a form with the Wisconsin Elections Commission, [then] have WEC go back and review it up to 90 days after the election to say ‘Okay, this was done right, or this was done wrong,’” Krug said. “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.”
