Automatic voter registration. (FE)

What it would have done

Summary by the Legislative Reference Bureau, the Legislature's nonpartisan drafting office. It's their wording, not ours.

This bill requires the Elections Commission to use all feasible means to facilitate the registration of all eligible electors of this state and to maintain the registration of all eligible electors for so long as the electors remain eligible, except as the law specifically requires electors to take some action to continue their registrations. Under the bill, the commission must attempt to facilitate the initial registration of all eligible electors no later than July 1, 2027. To facilitate the initial registration, the bill directs the commission and the Department of Transportation to enter into an agreement so that DOT may transfer specified personally identifiable information in DOT's records to the commission. The bill requires the commission to maintain the confidentiality of any information it obtains under the agreement and allows a driver's license or identification card applicant to “opt out" of DOT's transfer of this information to the commission. Once the commission obtains all the information required under current law to complete an elector's registration, the commission adds the elector's name to the statewide registration list. The bill also permits an individual whose name is added to the registration list or who wishes to permanently exclude his or her name from the list to file a request to have his or her name deleted or excluded from the list or to revoke a deletion or exclusion request previously made. A deletion or exclusion request or revocation of a deletion or exclusion request may be made in the manner prescribed by the commission. In addition, the bill directs the commission to notify an individual by first class postcard whenever the commission removes his or her name from the registration list or changes his or her status on the list from eligible to ineligible.

The bill also directs the commission to report to the appropriate standing committees of the legislature, no later than July 1, 2026, its progress in initially implementing the registration system created by the bill. The report must contain an assessment of the feasibility and desirability or integration of registration information with information maintained by the Departments of Health Services, Children and Families, Workforce Development, Revenue, Safety and Professional Services, and Natural Resources; the University of Wisconsin System; and the Technical College System Board, as well as with the technical colleges in each technical college district.

Who's behind it

7 senators are its authors⁠. All 7 are Democrats.

22 more lawmakers signed on in support⁠.

What it would cost

State agencies filed a cost estimate. Each opens as a PDF from the Legislature.

• Fiscal Estimate From DOT
• Fiscal Estimate From ELEC