Wisconsin legislators propose bill to ease absentee voting amid health emergency

Reps. Staush Gruszynski, a Democrat from Green Bay, and Joel Kitchens, a Republican from Sturgeon Bay, introduced the legislation this week as a way of addressing issues ahead of the November election.

Other changes stipulated in the bill include waiving the witness signature requirement, and tasking state election officials with developing and implementing software to track absentee ballots from the day they are issued to the day they are returned. Under the proposal, each municipality would also have to keep one polling place open for every 12,000 citizens of legal voting age who reside in that district.

In a phone interview with CNN, Gruszynski noted that the bill comes at a time when Democrats and Republicans in the state have been battling over emergency powers between the executive and legislative branches of government.

"We wanted the bill to be bipartisan. We wanted to find a place where we could find common ground...I think people and voters across Wisconsin are yearning for that right now. They want us to reach across the aisle and work together, to both address the pandemic and make sure people have the ability to vote safely and have more transparency in their election process and really help to make sure they have less confusion like we saw in the April election," Gruszynski said.

The voting changes would only go into effect if the governor declares a state of emergency and the Wisconsin Elections Commission approves the election day changes.

Kitchens told CNN that that they are hoping the bill will be in effect by November, as the battleground state braces for more Covid-19 cases in the fall. In 2016, President Donald Trump won Wisconsin's 10 electoral votes when he defeated Hillary Clinton there by less than 23,000 votes.

"Really the presidential election will be the biggest challenge, and I think also if there is going to be a resurgence it's more likely to come in the fall," Kitchens said. "When you look at the stakes in the November election, where Wisconsin is likely to be one of the determining states for the presidency, we certainly can't afford to have it be a fiasco with people not getting ballots."

However, the proposed bill is already facing an uphill battle.

The state legislature is out of session and would need to be called back by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers to get the measure passed. In addition, Wisconsin's Republican leadership, including Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, earlier this year resisted a similar proposal.

Evers, with less than two weeks before the April primary, had asked the state legislature to quickly pass a law that would have sent an absentee ballot to every one of the state's voters. Republicans refused, setting the stage for the chaotic election.

Wisconsin was the only one of 11 states with April primaries that still held an in-person voting election, after the other 10 either delayed their primaries or shifted to by-mail only voting.

CNN has reached out to Evers, Vos and Fitzgerald for comment.

Evers first declared a statewide health emergency on March 12. As of this week, Wisconsin has nearly 13,000 coronavirus cases and 467 deaths, according the Johns Hopkins University.

That tally has been moving upward in recent weeks, as dozens of coronavirus cases are now being linked to the April 7 election.

Wisconsin's primary has become a case study in the potential consequences facing states that don't move to vote-by-mail systems. On Tuesday, Michigan became the latest state to allow all registered voters to receive vote-by-mail ballot applications, joining Georgia and West Virginia.

Last month's Wisconsin primary saw places like Milwaukee have only five voting centers open, compared to 180 locations the city typically has on Election Day. This was compounded by a lack of poll workers, leaving nearly 300 of the state's National Guard troops to replace those volunteers. Voters, who did use face masks, were forced to flout social distancing guidelines and wait in long lines despite the health risks.

The new proposal also comes as state election officials issued a detailed report on the challenges posed by the April 7 election.

Over 1.3 million absentee ballots were sent out in Wisconsin's April primary, of which 1.15 million were returned and counted. According to the report, approximately one in 10 ballots were either not returned to the clerk or were returned but rejected due to a mix of computer glitches and mailing problems.

The report also noted that absentee mail-in voting spiked this year, representing a total of 75% of all votes counted. That's a complete flip from historic election day voting, where over 80% of ballots in Wisconsin are cast in person and only 6% are cast as mail-in absentee ballots.

"Because there have been so many questions about the April 7 election and absentee ballots, the (Wisconsin Election) Commission thought it was important to provide detailed data and analysis of what happened, why it happened, and what we are learning from that experience as we prepare for the fall elections," said Meagan Wolfe, administrator of the commission.

The commission on Wednesday is set to discuss recommendations for spending $7.3 million in federal CARES Act, which includes the use of the USPS Intelligent Barcodes to help voters and clerks track ballots. It expects a continued surge in absentee ballot requests for the state's remaining elections.