State legislators introduced a bill Thursday that aims to make voting more accessible for citizens, especially military personnel, as well as establish a voter bill of rights to protect a person’s right to vote.

Rep. Jeff Smith, D-Eau Claire, and Sen. Spencer Coggs, D-Milwaukee, introduced The Wisconsin Voter Protection Act to protect voters’ rights across Wisconsin and support fair and clean elections, according to a joint statement.

The act would make voter registration a simpler process while maintaining the voter’s confidentiality, said Coggs spokesperson Adam Plotkin. When voters receive their drivers’ licenses, their information would be stored in various state agencies, and they can later register to vote in a much shorter process than the one being used now.

Another stipulation of the act is to help make absentee voting more accessible to everyone, especially military members overseas. The act would also increase absentee voting flexibility for the general public. Municipalities would be allowed to set up satellite voting locations to increase absentee voting access.

According to the statement, the act would decrease the workload for election clerks. Clerks would be given greater flexibility in testing equipment and election statutes would be clarified.

The bill also establishes a voter bill of rights and creates penalties for intimidating or oppressing another person’s right to vote.

Plotkin said he hopes these changes will result in election days running smoother.

“The Wisconsin Voter Protection Act has been developed to improve the accessibility and integrity of our elections,” Smith said in the statement. “This bill creates reasonable reforms in order to defend our state’s legacy of good government and provide Wisconsin voters increased confidence in the security of our elections.”

Plotkin added the bill is important because Wisconsin would fall behind the other states in voter turnout if the act were not implemented. He said he feels the act would help Wisconsin uphold its reputation as one of the states with the best voter turnouts and as one of the “leaders in election administration.”

Jay Heck, executive director of Common Cause in Wisconsin, supports the act and said it would make voting a less difficult process. Wisconsin has a fairly stable voting system at present, but the act would improve it even more.

Heck added that he supports the improvement on absentee voting because he understands there are times when people want to vote, but are unable to show up at the polls due to work or business overseas.

“If people have to vote absentee, they should be able to do it,” he said.

Andrea Kaminski, executive director of the Wisconsin League of Women Voters, said the league has not taken an official position on the act. However, from what they have heard, they support the provisions to protect voter rights, and she said there is always room for improvement in the voting system.

“This act will be taking us a good step forward,” she said.