Assembly committee Republicans halt proposal for election observers

State lawmakers are trying to establish a standardized set of rules for what election observers are — and aren’t — allowed to do at Wisconsin polling places.

Legislators on both sides of the aisle are making progress on what those rules could look like, but implementing them has been another challenge.

This week, the Republican-controlled state Assembly Committee on Campaigns and Elections voted along party lines against recommending a new set of standards move forward through the state rulemaking process.

The package is centered around a rule proposal from the bipartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission, which would specify the distance observers could be from tables where voters show identification and allow them to review non-confidential voter information.

Committee vice chair Rep. Scott Krug, R-Rome, told WPR’s “Wisconsin Today” that the rules package doesn’t have enough recourse for election observers if municipalities don’t follow them.

“Having 1,800-plus municipalities run local elections — it’s hard to have one set standard unless we find a way to get that done,” Krug said. “We just want to make sure that everybody understands a standard that can be acceptable across the board.”

Krug also noted the state Supreme Court is currently reviewing the authority of the rules committee that would decide on whether to implement this package.

Instead, he’s working on legislation that would include the rules package from the elections commission and add in more accountability to enforce the standards.

“That doesn’t mean that we’re going to start throwing misdemeanors around to poll workers or to chief election inspectors,” Krug said. “We don’t know the mechanism quite yet, but nobody’s talking penalties. We just want to have steps in place that an observer can say, ‘Hey, this isn’t happening the way state law says. This is what I need to do next.’”

Democrats on the Assembly campaign and elections committee were disappointed to see the rules package they had worked on with Republicans not move forward.

Rep. Lee Snodgrass, D-Appleton, told WPR the proposed package from the Wisconsin Elections Commission provides recourse for election observers. She’s worried switching from the rules process to the legislative body will make it harder to implement.

“We have seen good things go through the committee and then die and not get a hearing in the major body,” Snodgrass said. “We’ve got something we can take action on here right in front of us, and to wait and see if we can get the full body on board with something we’ve created in the committee, to me, is an extra step and an extra risk.”

Snodgrass noted she and Krug have worked well together, and she doesn’t want to see the work they’ve done on these rules go to waste.

Krug thinks his legislation can find enough support on the Assembly floor, noting the Legislature had multiple election-related bills signed into law by Gov. Tony Evers last session.

“To get a bill to the floor is going to be a lot easier than shipping it off to another committee,” Krug said. “It creates more conversation between both parties to try to come to agreement, understanding that Republicans in the Legislature are going to need the Democrat governor to sign on to whatever we send to him.”

Both Krug and Snodgrass will come together again March 17 in Milwaukee for a bipartisan roundtable discussion on election issues with the organization All Voting is Local. The event is set for noon at Turner Hall.