SB 730

Current law requires a municipal clerk or board of election commissioners to

change the registration of deceased voters from eligible to ineligible status by means

of checking vital statistics reports, which the state registrar publishes annually.

This bill eliminates that requirement and requires that the Elections

Commission to do all of the following at least monthly:

1. Seek and obtain the most recent records of all deaths of residents of

Wisconsin.

2. Compare the death records with the official voter registration list

maintained by the commission.

3. Upon making that comparison, for each voter whose first and last name,

address, and date of birth are found on a death record, remove the elector from the

registration list and maintain a record of the commission's action.

Additionally, for each elector who currently appears on the registration list as

ineligible because he or she is deceased, the Elections Commission must remove the

elector from the registration list and maintain a record of the commission's action.

Finally, under current law, criminal penalties are provided for election officials

who commit certain specified kinds of election fraud. Otherwise, the willful neglect

or refusal of an election official to perform a duty prescribed under the election laws

is punishable by disqualification to act as an election official for five years. Under

the bill, a member of the Elections Commission or its staff who willfully neglects or

refuses to perform any of the duties prescribed in the bill is guilty of a Class I felony.

A Class I felony is punishable by a fine of up to $10,000 or imprisonment of up to three

years and six months, or both.

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.