2 Referendums About WI Elections Will Appear On Waukesha's Fall Ballot

WAUKESHA, WI — Two advisory referendums about elections in Wisconsin will appear on ballots in Waukesha County in the upcoming Nov. 8 election.

The Waukesha County Board approved both questions in August in a resolution proposed by Supervisor Peter Wolff. The resolution argued that the Wisconsin Constitution should be amended toward "election uniformity" and claimed a lack of uniformity in election laws undermined people's confidence. The resolution also spoke of money being directed from out of state into cities for election operations.

The first referendum will ask voters: "Should the Wisconsin Legislature prepare and place on the statewide ballot a Constitutional Amendment requiring that election administration, access to ballots, and counting of ballots be nearly uniform as practicable?"

The other referendum will ask: "Should the Wisconsin Legislature prepare and place on the statewide ballot a Constitutional Amendment prohibiting non-governmental entities and any individual other than election officials designated by law from funding, managing, or performing any task in election administration?"

Ann Jacobs, a Democratic-appointed commissioner for the Wisconsin Elections Commission, said in a tweet Tuesday that people should be skeptical of such questions.

"We have 1,850 separate voting municipalities in Wisconsin, ranging from as small as about 47 registered voters, to as large as about 500,000 registered voters. Big difference!" Jacobs wrote, adding in another tweet, "Some municipalities have full-time clerks with offices and staff. Some have part-time clerks working out of their homes. Another big difference!"

"If we are going to keep our decentralized system of 1,850 different municipalities then we need to acknowledge that there necessarily are going to be differing needs for those municipalities," said another tweet by Jacobs.

The referendum aims to capture the voice of voters and allow elected officials to gauge public opinion although the results will not have a binding effect on legislation.

As The Wisconsin Examiner points out in a September article about the referenda, the second question about non-government funding of election operations could impact foundations such as the Center for Tech and Civic Life, which in 2020 provided grants that paid for replacement poll workers and personal protective equipment. Yet those grants — funded in part by Mark Zuckerberg — sparked concerns from Trump supporters, the report noted.