Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment Act

In 2009, Congress passed the Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment (MOVE) Act, which imposes a number of new requirements on state and local election officials.

One of the primary requirements of the MOVE Act was that the State transmit the official printed ballot to absent uniformed services and overseas voters no later than September 18, 2010 (45 days before the November 2, 2010 election).

Wisconsin Statute § 5.02(18) requires our primary to be held on the second Tuesday in September. In 2010, this will be September 14. As such, there are only 49 days between Wisconsin’s primary and the general election. As the canvassing process alone takes a minimum of 14 days, under the existing election timeline there is no possibility that the official printed ballots could be ready by September 18, 2010.

The Wisconsin Legislature has not changed the state's primary election date.  As such, the state of Wisconsin is requesting a waiver of this requirement pursuant to UOCAVA § 102(g).

Wisconsin does meet the intent of the MOVE Act by sending official state write-in absentee ballots (SWAB) to all military and overseas electors with an absentee application on file no later than 90 days before the election. Wis. Stat. § 7.15(1)(cs) (2010). The SWAB, along with electronic transmission of the official printed ballot when it is ready, and an extended receipt deadline for military voters has proven successful in meeting the needs of Wisconsin’s military and overseas citizens.

Please see Wisconsin's Waiver Request, which is attached below.