This Report analyzes the anticipated impacts on the administration of Wisconsin elections and the procedures of several State agencies if Wisconsin Statutes were amended to eliminate the opportunity for Election Day Registration (EDR). This Report also provides preliminary estimated costs related to additional responsibilities of the Government Accountability Board which would result from the elimination of EDR.

An Inter-Organizational Fact-Finding Taskforce is appointed to gather the facts and analyze the impact of eliminating Election Day Registration (EDR) in Wisconsin and becoming subject to the requirements of the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) and the provisional voting requirements of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA).

This table summarizes voter registrations in statewide partisan elections from 1984 to 2012, including data on Election Day Registrations.

MADISON, WI – Ten Democratic Presidential Electors will gather at noon Monday at the State Capitol to cast Wisconsin’s Electoral College votes for President and Vice President of the United States.  At the November 6, 2012 presidential election, Wisconsin voters selected the Democratic slate of Presidential Electors who were represented on the ballot by the Democratic candidates, President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden.

Wisconsin has one elector for each of its eight Congressional districts and two statewide electors.  Presidential electors are nominated by elected officials and legislative candidates of each political party with ballot status in Wisconsin and by independent candidates for president.  Only those electors pledged to the winning Presidential candidate cast an Electoral College vote.

Like most states, Wisconsin awards Electoral College votes on a “winner-takes-all” basis, meaning the presidential candidate with the most votes gets all of the state’s Electoral College votes.  However, Nebraska and Maine award their votes on the basis of which candidate has won each Congressional district.

The Presidential Electors will actually cast two ballots, one for the office of President and one for Vice President, and then sign six original Certificates of Votes Cast to validate the process.  The Congress will meet in joint session on January 6, 2013 to count the electoral votes received from each state.

The electors participating Monday were chosen at a public meeting in the State Capitol on October 2 by Democratic elected officials and legislative candidates as required by Wisconsin law.   The electors include one State Senator, three members of the State Assembly, and a former Democratic candidate for Lt. Governor.  They are as follows:

• Representative Peter Barca of Kenosha, 1st Congressional District
• Senator Fred Risser of Madison, 2nd Congressional District
• Gary Hawley of Stevens Point, 3rd Congressional District
• Representative Frederick Kessler of Milwaukee, 4th Congressional District
• Lori Compas of Fort Atkinson, 5th Congressional District
• Marcia Steele of Oshkosh, 6th Congressional District
• Christine Bremer Muggli of Wausau, 7th Congressional District
• Diana Miller of Neopit, 8th Congressional District
• Representative JoCasta Zamarripa of Milwaukee, At Large
• Mahlon Mitchell of Fitchburg, At Large

The electors will meet at noon in the Governor’s Conference Room at the Capitol.  Kevin J. Kennedy, Director and General Counsel of the Government Accountability Board and Wisconsin’s chief election official, will call the meeting to order.  A complete agenda for the meeting is available on the G.A.B. website: http://gab.wi.gov/about/meetings/2012/presidential-electors.

Subsequently, the Government Accountability Board staff will arrange for Certificates of Ascertainment to be signed by the Governor and Secretary of State.  The Certificates of Ascertainment and Certificates of Votes Cast will be sent to the Vice President of the United States in his capacity as president of the Senate, federal archivists in Washington, DC, the Wisconsin Secretary of State and the Chief Judge of the Federal Court for the Western District of Wisconsin.

The U.S. Electoral College was designed in 1787 by the framers of the U.S. Constitution.  They determined that the number of electors from each state must equal the number of each state’s representatives to Congress (U.S. Senate and House).  Federal employees and members of Congress are prohibited from serving as electors.

There were 3,695,584 registered voters in Wisconsin as of January 4, 2013.

Not all election day registrations have been entered into the Statewide Voter Registration System yet by municipal clerks.

Please see the attachement for breakdowns of voter registration by geography and age.  The state of Wisconsin does not collect gender or political party information from voters.

MADISON, WI – Wisconsin’s elections ranked first in the nation in 2008 and eighth in 2010, according to a new comprehensive study of U.S. elections by the Pew Center on the States.

“This study reflects very well on the state of Wisconsin, its engaged voters and the thousands of local election officials who serve them,” said Kevin J. Kennedy, the state’s chief election officer. “For Wisconsin policymakers and residents, it provides a solid basis for confidence in our elections as well as pride in our hard-working, dedicated election officials.”

Full details of the study, including interactive graphics, are available at: www.pewstates.org/epi.

For this study, Pew created an index of 17 statistical measures of election administration under the direction of Professor Charles Stewart of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in consultation with a group of state and local election officials, academic scholars and information technology specialists.  Kennedy and UW Political Science Professor Barry Burden served on the study group.

Data for the study came from public reports and academic research.  Most importantly, the statistical information is consistently gathered across states and over a period of several election cycles.  This enables election officials, scholars, and the general public to compare a state’s performance over time and in conjunction with other states.  Data for the November 2012 election will be available once it is published, likely later this year.

Kennedy said several factors contributed to Wisconsin’s ranking as a high-performing state.  They include: consistently high voter turnout, low rates of non-voting due to registration or absentee ballot problems, few provisional ballots and comparatively short wait times.  One key element to Wisconsin’s high performance is the availability of voting information look-up tools on the Government Accountability Board’s voter services website: http://myvote.wi.gov.   Wisconsin was one of six states to provide full access to essential voter information on its website, including voter registration status, sample ballot information and polling place location.

The integrity of voting equipment used in Wisconsin also received high marks for being accurate and easy to audit.  Wisconsin conducts random post-election audits of its voting equipment following each general election.

Elections Division Administrator Michael Haas noted that while the Pew Index did not measure local control of elections, that is one attribute that likely contributed to Wisconsin’s high rankings. With 1,851 municipal clerks and 72 county clerks, Wisconsin has the most decentralized and locally-administered election system in the country.  “While this structure creates some challenges in election administration, it is also a strength that in Wisconsin, for the most part, elections are run by the voters’ friends and neighbors,” Haas said.

The Pew Center on the States has dedicated significant resources to evaluating and modernizing elections in the United States.  Pew involves state and local election officials, noted academic scholars, and industry leaders in its efforts.  The Elections Performance Index provides a look behind the curtain of this essential element of our governmental process.  Now this information is readily available for members of the public to see for themselves.

Wisconsin dropped from first to eighth between 2008 and 2010 because two of the 17 statistics for which Wisconsin received high marks were not included in 2010: voting technology accuracy and voting wait times.  Nationwide data for voting technology accuracy, as measured by the difference between the total number of voters and the number of votes for president (residual vote rate) was not available for 2010 because it was not a presidential election year. Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s data on voting wait times was also not collected in 2010.

MADISON, WI – The Wisconsin Government Accountability Board is predicting voter turnout of less than 10 percent for the Spring Primary on Tuesday, February 19.  Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

The only statewide race is a primary for Wisconsin Supreme Court justice. Voters will be narrowing a field of three candidates down to two for the April 2 Spring Election.  The candidates, in the order they appear on the ballot, are Vince Megna, Ed Fallone and incumbent Pat Roggensack.

“Over the last decade, turnout of eligible voters for the three Spring Primaries for Wisconsin Supreme Court races has been 6.8 percent in 2003,  6.7 percent in 2007 and  9.6 percent in 2011,” said Kevin Kennedy, director and general counsel of the G.A.B.  “We expect this year’s turnout to be in that range.”  

Wisconsin has an estimated voting-age population of 4,378,741 eligible voters, the number used to calculate turnout.  Voter turnout and current voter registration statistics are available at http://gab.wi.gov/elections-voting/statistics.

In other nonpartisan primary races for state office, voters in Dodge, Manitowoc and Milwaukee counties will be nominating candidates for circuit court judges for the Spring Election in April. Elsewhere in Wisconsin, voters may have nonpartisan primaries for town, village, city, county and school board officials.

In a rare spring partisan race, voters in Assembly District 98 in Waukesha County will be narrowing the field of five candidates in a Republican Party primary for the Special Election ordered to be held April 2.  No Democratic Party or independent candidates filed to run, but the Republican primary winner could face write-in candidates.  A map of AD-98 is available here: http://legis.wisconsin.gov/ltsb/redistricting/PDFs/ad98.pdf. 

Voters who want to know which races will be on their primary ballots February 19 should visit the My Vote Wisconsin website: http://myvote.wi.gov, said Elections Division Administrator Michael Haas.  In addition to providing sample ballots, the website will also help voters check their registration status and find their polling places.

Valentine’s Day – February 14 – is the last day for voters to request an absentee ballot by mail from their local municipal clerk, who they can find at My Vote Wisconsin.  In-person absentee voting at the municipal clerk’s office for the Spring Primary ends at 5 p.m. Friday, February 15.  Voters should check with their municipal clerk’s office for specific voting hours, especially those who live in small towns where the clerk may not have regular office hours.

Voters who are not registered may still register on Election Day at their polling place, provided they bring a proper proof of residence document.  Detailed information about voter registration is available at http://myvote.wi.gov. Haas also reminded voters and clerks that the G.A.B. will be open for extended hours for the primary.  On Thursday, and Friday, February 14 and 15, and Monday February 18, the agency will be open until 6 p.m. On Election Day, the agency will be open from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m.  

Voters who have problems or questions may contact the G.A.B. at 1-866-VOTE-WIS (868-3947).  Clerks should call the Help Desk at 608-266-2028.

This Report analyzes the anticipated impacts on the administration of Wisconsin elections and the procedures of several State agencies if Wisconsin Statutes were amended to eliminate the opportunity for EDR. This Report also provides estimated costs related to additional responsibilities of the Government Accountability Board and partner State agencies which would result from the elimination of EDR.

MADISON, WI – Running the November 2012 Presidential and General Election cost local governments an estimated $10 million, according to new data released today by the Government Accountability Board.

Poll worker wages topped the list of expenses borne by local governments at $3.2 million, while election official staff cost $3 million and ballots cost $1.4 million.

“Today’s Spring Primary election will cost significantly less because clerks have fewer workers at the polls and they print far fewer ballots,” said Kevin J. Kennedy, Wisconsin’s chief election official. “Unlike November when turnout was more than 70 percent statewide, we expect today’s turnout to be less than 10 percent.”

The 2012 election data released today includes statistics reported by Wisconsin’s 1,851 municipalities about the numbers of voters, ballots, absentee ballots, and voter registrations.  It also includes clerks’ cost estimates for administering elections.  The G.A.B. began requiring local election officials to report their costs in April 2012 to gather information for its use and respond to numerous questions about the cost of conducting elections.

One key statistic in the data is the number of  voters in the November 2012 Presidential and General Election who took advantage Election Day Registration, whether registering to vote for the first time or updating their name or address on an existing registration.

“The use of Election Day Registration fell significantly between November 2008, when more than 15 percent of voters registered at the polls, and November 2012, when just under 11 percent did,” Kennedy said.  “The two statewide special elections in the spring of 2012 gave voters more opportunities to register, which may have decreased the number of Election Day registrations in November.”

Highlights of the election data include: 

• 3,080,628 out of 4,378,741eligible voters participated in the election for a turnout rate of 70.35 percent.
• 3,085,015 total ballots were cast, which includes spoiled ballots that were not counted.
• 736,466 absentee ballots were cast, or nearly 24 percent of the total. That compares to 633,610 (21 percent) in 2008.
• Nearly 70 percent of absentee ballots were cast in person at the clerk’s office in the two weeks prior to the November 2012 election.  A complete tally of absentee ballots cast by mail and in person for 2008 is not available; however, a sampling of 2008 data found that 64.5 percent were cast in person.
• Of the 3,568,692 voters who registered for the November election, 337,033 registered on Election Day, or 11 percent
• Only 135 provisional ballots were cast, of which 44 were counted, 77 rejected and 14 were unknown.
• 82.8 percent of ballots were cast on optical scan tabulators, while 10.4 percent were cast on touch screen equipment and 6.4 percent were hand-counted paper ballots.
• 34,925 poll workers (1.1 percent of the electorate) staffed Wisconsin’s 3,527 polling places. Nearly 30 percent are age 71 and older, while 38.5 percent are age 60 to 70. Less than 8 percent of poll workers are age 40 and under.
• The average poll worker was paid $93.80 for the November election ($3,276,180 divided by 34,925 poll workers).

Overall, the five statewide elections in 2012 cost local governments more than $37 million, noted Michael Haas, the G.A.B.’s Elections Division Administrator.  That does not include the cost of the February 2012 nonpartisan Spring Primary or the December 4, 2012 Senate District 33 Special Election, which were not statewide elections, and for which cost estimates were not collected.  

“We appreciate the work of local election officials in reporting the data which is useful for evaluating election administration and for policymakers and the public,” Haas said.

Spreadsheets containing the election data and election costs for each municipality and county are available on the agency website: http://gab.wi.gov/elections-voting/statistics.
 

MADISON, WI – The Government Accountability Board’s Elections Division will be mailing postcards in mid-April to approximately 310,000 Wisconsin registered voters who have not voted in the past four years.

Kevin J. Kennedy, director and general counsel of the G.A.B., said the agency will again be printing and mailing the postcards on behalf of Wisconsin’s municipal clerks, who are required by state law to conduct voter list maintenance after each General Election.  “This is an official mailing, and voters can be assured it is not a scam or identity theft scheme,” Kennedy said.

The postcard is titled “Notice of Suspension,” and asks voters if they wish to remain active in the Statewide Voter Registration System (SVRS).  Voters have one month to contact their municipal clerk with a return postcard to maintain their active status on the voter list.  Voters who do not respond to the postcard, or whose postcard is returned as undeliverable by the Post Office, will be marked as inactive on the voter list.

“This mailing is not designed to keep any active voter’s name off the poll list,” said Elections Division Administrator Michael Haas. “Rather, its purpose is to help Wisconsin maintain accurate and quality voter data, and make sure every voter’s name and address is correct  and current, and to remove voters that no longer wish to vote.”

State law directs municipal clerks to send this notice to voters within 90 days of the November General Election, a deadline the G.A.B. is not able to meet.  In response to concerns voiced recently by members of the Legislature, G.A.B. Chair Timothy L. Vocke asked the staff whether it would be possible to send the postcards earlier than mid-April.

Haas explained that the agency staff originally decided to wait until April to mail the postcards for these reasons:

• Because of state procurement rules, the G.A.B. staff requires at least six weeks between the date clerks complete entering voter histories from the November General Election and the mailing of postcards (two weeks for bidding, four weeks for printing).
• Many clerks were not able to finish updating voter histories until recently.  Both Waukesha and La Crosse counties had special elections after November, which further delayed their data entry, and other clerks were late for various reasons.
• Had the postcards gone out by the statutory deadline with incomplete data, approximately 10,000 people who actually voted in November would have received erroneous suspension notices.
• Erroneously printing and mailing postcards to 10,000 voters who voted in November would be a waste of taxpayer resources.
• If postcards went out after all clerks finished their work but right before the Spring Election in April, past experience shows that would cause significant confusion among voters as it did in the past.
• Having the voter list in flux right before the election could cause problems for municipal clerks when they print their poll lists, leaving validly registered voters off the rolls and potentially disenfranchising them for the Spring Election.

“In 2007 the Legislative Audit Bureau found that many municipalities were not regularly maintaining their voter lists as required by state law,” Kennedy said. “After consulting with clerks, the G.A.B. stepped in and took responsibility for printing and mailing to make sure that voter lists are accurate.”

“We were unable to comply with the 90-day statutory deadline in 2009, and mailed 313, 205 postcards on February 20 of that year, which caused great confusion,” Kennedy continued. “Many people who had voted in November 2008 mistakenly received suspension notification postcards because some clerks had not finished updating their records.  In fact, the agency had to respond to inquiries from public officials, such as Congressman Ryan expressing concern that one of his constituents mistakenly received a suspension notice due to a clerk’s delay entering voter participation information in SVRS.  Unfortunately, state law does not give the G.A.B. any means to force municipal clerks to comply with voter list maintenance deadlines. Clerks work very hard to meet the statutory timelines, but they all have staffing, budgetary, and other issues that impact their ability to timely complete voter participation data entry.”

“In addition, many people mistook the 2009 postcards as a scam, and the G.AB. was criticized for not informing the public about the postcards in advance,” Kennedy said.  “As we did in 2011, we are issuing this news release to assure the citizens that this is not a scam.  Recipients are not asked divulge personal information.”

“Because of those problems in 2009, we mailed the next batch of voter list maintenance postcards in late April 2011 and sent a memo to the Governor and every member of the Legislature,” Kennedy said.  “This year, we wanted to have clerks conduct the four-year maintenance, but decided to continue our practice based on specific requests from the clerks.  This important issue is currently being discussed by our Clerk Concerns Committee.  Given the publicity which surrounded this process after the last two general elections, and the regular updates we provided to our Board and the public, the possibility that the G.A.B. might conduct the mailing again and do so in April was not a secret.”

“Under the current system, suspension notice postcards now go out a little later, but the job gets done in a way that does not create chaos for voters or disrupt preparation of poll lists, and also preserves the rights of legally registered voters to cast ballots in spring elections,” Kennedy said.

“Had we to do it over again, we would have engaged this year’s Legislature in this process earlier to ensure it was fully-informed about statutory issues with the four-year list maintenance process, but we did not anticipate such a strong reaction to using the same process we used in 2011,” Kennedy said. “We would also have sought changes in state law to codify the current system and to make the deadlines more realistic and reflective of state procurement rules. Unfortunately, the Board’s legislative agenda has taken a back seat due to recalls, recounts, more recalls and preparations for the 2012 elections.”

“Contrary to claims raised by members of the Legislature, the delay in mailing four-year maintenance postcards caused by the G.A.B.’s involvement does not pose a threat to Wisconsin’s voter registration system,” Kennedy said.  “The G.A.B.’s assistance to clerks helps ensure this important work gets done.”

There were 3,690,529 registered voters in Wisconsin as of March 1, 2013.

Please see the attachement for breakdowns of voter registration by geography and age.  The state of Wisconsin does not collect gender or political party information from voters.

MADISON, WI – The Government Accountability Board’s Elections Division mailed postcards Monday to nearly 300,000 Wisconsin registered voters who have not voted in the past four years.

“This is an official mailing, and voters can be assured it is not a scam or identity theft scheme,” said Kevin J. Kennedy, director and general counsel of the G.A.B.  “State and federal law require inactive voters to be removed from the statewide voter list.  This is just one of several measures the Board takes regularly to ensure the integrity of voting in Wisconsin.”

The postcard is titled “Notice of Suspension,” and asks voters if they wish to remain active in the Statewide Voter Registration System (SVRS).  Voters have one month to contact their municipal clerk with a return postcard to maintain their active status on the voter list.  Voters who do not respond to the postcard, or whose postcard is returned as undeliverable by the Post Office, will be marked as inactive on the voter list.

“This mailing is not designed to keep any active voter’s name off the poll list,” said Elections Division Administrator Michael Haas. “Rather, its purpose is to help Wisconsin maintain accurate and quality voter data, and make sure every voter’s name and address is correct and current, and to remove names of voters that no longer wish to vote from poll lists.”

Voters who receive the card but believe they have voted in Wisconsin in the past four years should contact their local municipal clerk, who is responsible for recording whether someone voted in an election. A directory of municipal clerks is available on the Board’s website: http://gab.wi.gov/clerks/directory.  More information about the four-year voter record maintenance process is posted to the Board’s website.

Voters who have changed their names or addresses should not return the card, but instead re-register under their new name or at their new address.  Voters can start the registration process online at the MyVote Wisconsin website at http://myvote.wi.gov, as well as check their registration status and voting history.  

The G.A.B. is conducting the required four-year voter record maintenance process on behalf of all but one of Wisconsin’s 1,852 municipal clerks.  

The G.A.B. assisted one small Wisconsin municipality that wished to do its own mailing.  The clerk reported that it cost $261.00 to print and mail approximately 400 postcards, which works out to approximately 65 cents per postcard.  If every municipality printed and mailed its own postcards at that price, the entire mailing of 299,748 postcards would cost local taxpayers more than $194,800.  Having the G.A.B. print and mail the postcards this year cost the state $90,491.86, or 30 cents a postcard, a savings to taxpayers of more than $100,000 in printing and mailing costs alone.

Under state law, mailing these postcards is the responsibility of municipal clerks, but the G.A.B. has shouldered that responsibility for them since 2009 to ensure it is completed uniformly and cost-effectively across the state.  

NOTE TO EDITORS:  JPEG images of a sample Election Mail postcard are attached.  Your publication of the sample postcard will help assure voters it is not a scam.