Court Changes Wisc Voter Registration & Voting Dates
WIsconsin's early voting, absentee voting or voting by mail (Your pick the name, even though the process is identical) will begin on September 18th, 2020.
for Uniformed and Overseas Citizens. The rest of us voters have even more hoops to jump through, thanks to the right wing anti-voting crowd.
The US 7th Federal Circuit Court ruled on June 30, 2020 on a One Wisconsin Institute (another right wing think tank) Case that further restricts voting rights in the nation's most gerrymandered state.
RESIDENCY:
It was 10 days to gain residency to vote..it is now 28 days to live in Wisc to be eligible to vote on Nov 3rd.
That means if you just moved there, you must register before October 6th or you will not be able to vote.
EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY:
In-person absentee voting may be conducted beginning no earlier than 14 days prior to each election and ending no later than the Sunday prior to election day. No in-person absentee voting is allowed on the Monday prior to election day. ( I got my ballot for Aug 11th primary on June 26th).
There is no limit contained in the current law on the maximum number of hours that can be offered for in-person absentee voting and the law also does not establish a minimum number of hours that must be offered (although opportunities for in-person absentee voting must be offered). In-person absentee voting hours are also not required to be offered on each day of this time period. (Maybe 15mins on say, Oct 20th - the very earliest date and maybe, 15mins on Friday Oct 30th - the very last day to vote early)
OTHER CHANGES:
Absentee Ballot Certificate Envelope (Updated): State law requires the certification language on the absentee ballot return envelope to include the residency requirement in the voter affirmation section. Wis. Stat. § 6.87(2). Existing stock of return envelopes that list the 10-day standard may still be used, but the clerk should manually change the reference to the 28-day residency requirement, and initial this change, before issuing the return envelope to an absentee voter. ( Clerks with Sharpies, hand writing new dates on forms, because they won't print new registration forms, absentee ballot application forms and mailing envelopes for those types of ballots...what could go wrong here?)
The Court’s decision also affects several other changes to elections law that WEC staff is currently analyzing to determine their impact, including issues with university ID cards as proof of identification, and the ID Petition Process administered by the Wisconsin Department of Motor Vehicles. ( So we have no idea what kinds of ID are going to be required to register to vote, or show at the polling locations on election day> Or what hours and locations will be available to voters to get a proper ID in Wisconsin, which the GOP closed over half the offices, cut hours by up to 70% and will certainly drag their asses in setting those dates).
The Wisc Elections Board was going to meet on Aug 25th to determine these dates & times, but have decided to kick it to Sept 1st., which they are meeting for the first time on these court ordered changes.
HAND WRITING ON VOTING FORMS? The clerks can only do this my hand, on every single form. Wisconsin may have well over a million absentee ballots.
What could possibly go wrong?
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