SB 378

Under the federal Electoral Count Reform Act, states should ensure that their canvass, recount, and precertification procedures are completed within a 36-day period from the date of a presidential election to the date on which a state certifies its presidential election results. This bill makes changes to Wisconsin election laws in order to comply with deadlines established by the ECRA for selecting presidential electors and transmitting election results to Congress, including all of the following:

1. Current law does not include a state deadline for certification of a presidential election. The bill requires the governor to transmit a certificate of ascertainment of appointment of presidential electors to the archivist of the United States no later than six days before the meeting of the state’s presidential electors and in the manner prescribed by the ECRA.

2. The bill further requires the governor to deliver six duplicate originals of the certificate of ascertainment to one of the state’s presidential electors no later than the first Tuesday after the second Wednesday in December. Under current law, that deadline is the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December.

3. Current law requires the electors for president and vice president to meet at the state capitol at noon on the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December. Consistent with the ECRA, the bill requires the electors to meet on the first Tuesday after the second Wednesday in December.

4. Current law requires the Elections Commission chairperson to complete the state canvass of election results within 10 days from the day on which the canvass commences and, for a general election, no later than December 1 following the election. With regard to a presidential election, the bill requires the commission chairperson to complete the state canvass no later than 16 days after the election.

5. Under current law, when the Elections Commission receives a valid petition for a recount, it must promptly order the proper county board of canvassers to commence the recount. The order must be sent by certified mail or by “other expeditious means,” and the county board of canvassers must commence the recount no later than 9 a.m. on the third day after receiving the order. With regard to a presidential election, the bill requires that the order be sent immediately, on the same day on which the commission receives the petition, and by secure electronic means. In addition, the board of canvassers must commence a recount no later than 9 a.m. on the second day after receiving an order and may not adjourn until the recount is complete in the county, except to the extent permitted by the commission.

6. Under current law, a candidate may petition for a full or partial recount of the votes cast in an election. If a candidate petitions for a partial recount, current law provides that opposing candidates may file a petition for an additional partial or full recount of the remaining wards or municipalities no later than 5 p.m. two days after the initial partial recount is completed. Under the bill, with regard to a petition for a partial recount in a presidential election, opposing candidates must file their petition for an additional partial or full recount no later than 5 p.m. on the day after the original petition was filed, and the proper board of canvassers must reconvene the next business day.

7. Under current law, a candidate may file an appeal of the recount results with the circuit court within five business days after the recount is completed. With regard to a presidential election, the bill shortens that deadline to one business day. The bill also requires the court to make a determination on the appeal no later than 7 days after the day on which the appeal is filed rather than “as expeditiously as possible,” as provided under current law.

8. With regard to a recount, current law allows a candidate aggrieved by an order of the circuit court to file an appeal with the court of appeals within 30 days after the circuit court’s order. Under the bill, with regard to a presidential election recount, a candidate who wishes to appeal a circuit court order must file his or her appeal with the Wisconsin Supreme Court. The bill requires a candidate to file his or her appeal no later than the day after the circuit court issues its order. The bill also requires the supreme court to resolve such appeals as soon as possible and directs the governor to update the certificate of the election results pursuant to an order of the supreme court, if the court issues the order no later than 4 p.m. on the day before the date on which the presidential electors are to convene. The bill also establishes expedited procedures for a recount in a presidential election that is not complete by the sixth day before the date on which the presidential electors are to convene.

9. Finally, the bill adjusts municipal and county canvassing deadlines with regard to a presidential election in order to conform with the other changes made by the bill and establishes procedures for the commission to follow should municipal and county canvassing deadlines fail to be met.

Additionally, the bill requires the Elections Commission to publish on its website a table setting forth each day or deadline on or by which an act or event is required by law to occur in a presidential election, including with respect to recounts and recount appeals.