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The Badger Herald

Independent Student Newspaper Since 1969

The Badger Herald

Independent Student Newspaper Since 1969

The Badger Herald

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State considers altering primary, absentee votes

The Wisconsin State Assembly and Senate are working toward a compromise in an effort to pass a bill that would move fall primary elections back and change state policy on email absentee ballots for those serving overseas.

The bill would move the state’s fall primary election from the second Tuesday in September to the second Tuesday in August so Wisconsin residents fighting or working overseas could send their votes home to be counted on time, Government Accountability Board spokesperson Reid Magney said.

Senator Mary Lazich, R-New Berlin, authored the bill early last spring in a response to the Federal Military and Overseas Empowerment Act passed in February, she said. It was passed through the Senate in June.

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Attached to the bill is a provision that would change the current email absentee ballot law, Magney said.

Magney said the old law required clerks to send email absentee ballots to overseas voters but did not require them to be sent to absentee voters at home. The new law, passed with the voter ID law, required clerks to send email ballots to all who requested them.

“Not every clerk in the state has email,” Magney said. “There are between 100 and 200 municipal clerks who do not have the ability to send people email ballots because of this.”

The law proposed with the bill in the assembly now would reverse the most recent law back to clerk discretion email absentee ballots for in-state voters, Magney said. The only part that would not change is that voters would still have to return email ballots by mail or in-person.

Lazich said she was adamant about making the law constitutional and fair.

“I wanted uniformity. Everyone should be treated equally under this law,” she said.

She said as of now there has not been any real partisan divide regarding whether or not to pass the bill.

The email absentee ballot provision is not a part of the Senate proposed bill, Lazee said. The absentee voter provision was included by the state assembly as a part of the bill undergoing deliberation.

Magney said he has not heard of any opposition from either party or legislative body. However, he said GAB has not yet been asked by the state to make a formal opinion in regards to the new bill and whether it would be admissible under current statutes.

The state Legislature was also visited by federal members of the Department of Defense earlier this week. The members were urging the Assembly to pass the bill to allow Wisconsin residents overseas to comply with military ordinances.

Julie Laundrie, spokesperson for Sen. Jon Erpenhach, D-Middleton, said it would be unwise for members of either party to be against the bill.

“It really would be in the best interest of everyone in the Legislature to pass this bill. I’m sure there will be resolutions,” Laundrie said.

Majority Senate leader Fitzgerald’s office was unable to comment on the bill.

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