Skip to content
Bills from the 2025–26 session

Assembly Bill 537

Returning an absentee ballot with an incomplete certificate or with no certificate

Topics: Elections: Ballots, Municipality: Officers

Stopped in committee

It never got a ⁠, so it never came up for a vote. The last day for votes this session was Mar 19, 2026. To try again, a lawmaker would have to start a new bill.

  1. Introduced, passed

    Oct 15, 2025

  2. Committee, stopped here

    Stopped here. No public hearing was held.

  3. Assembly vote, not reached

  4. Senate vote, not reached

  5. Governor, not reached

  6. Law, not reached

Latest entry in the official record, Mar 23, 2026: “Failed to pass pursuant to ⁠”

It never got a hearing in the Assembly Committee on Campaigns and Elections. The committee's chair at the time was Dave Maxey. Chairs decide which bills get a hearing. See every bill that never got a hearing this session.

Read the bill

Following saves it on this device. New actions show on your Following page. You can also get updates in a feed reader.

Embed this on your site

Paste this code into your page. The card shows the latest record each time it loads. Preview the card

The same bill was also filed in the Senate as SB 511. That version died when the session ended.

What it would have done

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

Under current law, a municipal clerk may return to the voter an absentee ballot with an improperly completed certificate or with no certificate whenever time permits the voter to correct the defect and return the absentee ballot to the polling place before 8 p.m. on election day. Under this bill, the municipal clerk must return such an absentee ballot to the voter under those circumstances.

Who's behind it

20 representatives are its ⁠. 19 are Democrats and 1 is a Republican.

11 more lawmakers ⁠.

See all 31 names

Authors (20)

Signed on in support (11)

What happened

  1. Mar 23, 2026

    The session ended, and the bill died with it.

  2. Oct 17, 2025 to Feb 9, 2026

    2 more representatives signed on in support.

  3. Oct 15, 2025

    Sent to the Assembly Committee on Campaigns and Elections.

  4. Oct 15, 2025

    Introduced in the Assembly.

See the official record, word for word
  1. Oct 15, 2025 · Assembly

    Introduced by Representatives Snodgrass, Krug, Andraca, Arney, Clancy, Emerson, Joers, Johnson, Madison, McCarville, Moore Omokunde, Neubauer, Ortiz-Velez, Roe, Stroud, Stubbs, Udell, Sinicki, Miresse and Palmeri; cosponsored by Senators Smith, Carpenter, Dassler-Alfheim, L. Johnson, Keyeski, Larson, Ratcliff, Wall and Wirch

  2. Oct 15, 2025 · Assembly

    Read first time and referred to Committee on Campaigns and Elections

  3. Oct 17, 2025 · Assembly

    Representative Subeck added as a coauthor

  4. Feb 9, 2026 · Assembly

    Representative J. Jacobson added as a coauthor

  5. Mar 23, 2026 · Assembly

    Failed to pass pursuant to Senate Joint Resolution 1

Terms on this page

Committee

A small group of lawmakers that looks at a bill first. Most bills never leave committee.

More in the glossary

Public hearing

A meeting where anyone can speak to a committee about a bill, or send written comments.

More in the glossary

Senate Joint Resolution 1

The session's calendar. Any bill not passed by its last voting day dies.

Official term: Failed to pass pursuant to SJR 1. More in the glossary

Legislative Reference Bureau

The Legislature's nonpartisan office that drafts bills and writes the summary at the top of each one.

Official term: LRB analysis. More in the glossary

Author

A lawmaker who formally puts a bill forward. The text itself is drafted by the Legislative Reference Bureau.

Official term: Author, coauthor. More in the glossary

Signed on in support

Lawmakers who back a bill without being one of its authors, often from the other chamber.

Official term: Cosponsor. More in the glossary

From the Wisconsin Legislature's official record, checked Sep 15, 2026. See the source

Committee

A small group of lawmakers that looks at a bill first. Most bills never leave committee.

Public hearing

A meeting where anyone can speak to a committee about a bill, or send written comments.

Senate Joint Resolution 1

The session's calendar. Any bill not passed by its last voting day dies.

Official term: Failed to pass pursuant to SJR 1

Legislative Reference Bureau

The Legislature's nonpartisan office that drafts bills and writes the summary at the top of each one.

Official term: LRB analysis

Author

A lawmaker who formally puts a bill forward. The text itself is drafted by the Legislative Reference Bureau.

Official term: Author, coauthor

Signed on in support

Lawmakers who back a bill without being one of its authors, often from the other chamber.

Official term: Cosponsor