Absentee voting, voting procedures, and providing a penalty. (FE)

The bill provides that if a retirement home that is not a qualified retirement home is located within a municipality as part of a multiple-use facility consisting of one or more qualified retirement homes or residential care facilities to which special voting deputies are dispatched, the management of the retirement home must provide the clerk with the names and addresses of the occupants of the home. The clerk then provides the special voting deputies with the names and addresses of the verified residents who are eligible to cast absentee ballots in person with the deputies.

2. Current law allows an individual who registered to vote without providing proof of residence prior to the enactment of 2013 Act 182 , which took effect on April 4, 2014, to cast a provisional ballot on election day. The ballot is counted only if the elector provides proof of residence to the municipal clerk or board of election commissioners no later than 4 p.m. on the Friday after the election. Act 182 eliminated the option to register to vote without proof of residence, but those who exercised that option prior to April 4, 2014, were given the opportunity to vote by provisional ballot and provide proof of residence. As of July 1, 2019, those electors have provided proof of residence and voted or have been removed from the voter registration database as part of the list maintenance process because they had not voted in four years and had not responded to mailings from the Elections Commission to verify their residential address. The bill provides that an individual who is required to provide proof of residence to complete his or her voter registration but who does not provide such proof is not allowed to cast a provisional ballot or to otherwise vote.

3. Current law allows a former qualified Wisconsin elector who has moved out of this state, but who is not yet a qualified elector in another state, to apply for and vote by an absentee ballot in the ward of the elector's prior Wisconsin residence in any presidential election occurring within 24 months after leaving this state.

Current law does not specify the deadline for making such a request, but, generally, an application for an absentee ballot made by mail must be received no later than 5 p.m. on the fifth day preceding the election. The bill clarifies that a former qualified Wisconsin elector who is not a qualified elector elsewhere must apply for an absentee ballot to vote in a presidential election in the ward of the elector's prior residence no later than 5 p.m. on the fifth day preceding the election.

4. Currently, if election inspectors are aware that an eligible elector is unable to enter the polling place due to a disability, the inspectors must allow the elector to vote without entering the polling place. This is commonly referred to as “curbside voting.” For curbside voting, the elector may designate another individual to assist the elector with presenting proof of identification or marking the ballot. After the inspectors have viewed the proof of identification and verified that the elector's name and address match the name and address on the poll list, the inspectors issue a ballot and take it to the entrance of the polling place so that the elector or the person assisting the elector may mark the ballot. After the elector or the assisting individual has marked the ballot, an inspector receives the ballot, enters the polling place, and announces the name of the elector, states that the elector is unable to enter the polling place due to a disability, and asks if anyone present objects to the inspector receiving the elector's ballot.

Under the bill, an eligible elector who, for any reason, is unable to enter the polling place is not required to sign the poll list, but, instead, must sign a document indicating the elector's name and address and the time at which the inspectors issued the ballot. The document, rather than the poll list, is brought outside the polling place along with the ballot. The bill also requires an inspector to note on the poll list that the elector voted “curbside.” The document also requires that the elector certify that he or she is unable to enter the polling place.

The bill also modifies current law to conform with the current practices described in the Elections Commission's election day manual regarding curbside voting. For example, the bill requires that two inspectors must leave the polling place to assist the elector and if having two inspectors outside the polling place results in having fewer than three inspectors inside the polling place, no voting is permitted during the time that the inspectors are outside assisting the elector. The bill specifies that the inspectors leave the polling place initially in order to view the elector's proof of identification. The inspectors then go back inside the polling place to verify that the elector's name and address match the name and address in the poll list and, if so, to issue a ballot. The inspectors then go outside a second time to have the elector or assisting individual mark the ballot.

5. The bill makes a technical change to current law related to the municipal clerk's duty to send absentee ballots automatically to those electors who have requested that option so that the provision for sending out absentee ballots automatically is included in the provision that specifies the clerk's other duties with regard to preparing and providing absentee ballots.

6. Under the bill, a person may be denied the right to register to vote or to vote based on the person's incapacity to understand the objective of the elective process only if a court specifically determines that the person is incompetent to exercise those rights. Under current law, a person who has been adjudicated incompetent may be denied those rights without a specific finding by the court that the person is incompetent to exercise those rights.

7. The bill eliminates the requirement that the board of absentee ballot canvassers mark the poll list number of each elector who casts an absentee ballot on the back of the elector's ballot before placing the ballot in the ballot box.

8. The bill prohibits a person from obtaining another person's marked absentee ballot and failing or refusing to deliver it to the proper municipal clerk or polling place. A person who violates this prohibition is guilty of a Class I felony.

9. The bill eliminates the requirement that each municipal clerk maintain an updated list of all eligible military electors who reside in the municipality.

Because this bill creates a new crime or revises a penalty for an existing crime, the Joint Review Committee on Criminal Penalties may be requested to prepare a report.