GOP lets absentee 'ballot dump' measure die, leaving door open to false fraud claims

MADISON – The Republican-led Senate adjourned for the year without approving a bipartisan bill that would allow election clerks to start processing absentee ballots the day before Election Day, leaving open the door to more false claims by Republican former President Donald Trump about the integrity of Wisconsin's elections.

Just after losing reelection in 2020, Trump claimed late-night "ballot dumps" in Milwaukee were to blame for his loss — falsely implying illegal votes were cast.

"There's been a concerted effort by folks in the Assembly and senators to try to get this calendar to the Senate, so we can put to rest complaints from conspiracy theorists," Sen. Mark Spreitzer, D-Beloit, told reporters Tueday, the final day of the Senate calendar. "But just like in Washington, D.C., former President Donald Trump has told Republicans not to fix anything so he can continue to spread his lies and complain when he loses."

Under current law, Wisconsin election workers may not count absentee ballots until Election Day. In Milwaukee, that means processing at times more than a hundred thousand ballots while also administering the polls.

The absentee ballots in Milwaukee and several other Wisconsin cities are counted at a central facility and the ballots' results are posted all at once. During large elections, like the presidential in 2020, results are often not ready until late at night or early morning.

Trump used this practice to falsely claim the large posting of results was instead a fraudulent "dump" of ballots to doom his reelection.

Clerks and bipartisan lawmakers have pushed lawmakers to allow them to start processing absentee ballots the Monday before Election Day to prevent voter confusion and conspiracies that result from large amounts of ballots being processed late and added to totals, sometimes changing which candidate is in the lead.

Ahead of the 2020 election, Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu and Democratic former Sen. Mark Miller authored a bill that would give clerks the ability to start processing a day early.

"Processing thousands of absentee ballots during breaks or after 8:00 PM can delay election results and create a burden on poll workers and clerks," LeMahieu, a Sheboygan County Republican, said during his testimony to the Senate Elections Committee in January 2020. "Protecting the integrity of our elections is of utmost importance."

Assembly lawmakers earlier this session approved a new bill that would allow the change, but it stalled in the state Senate, where its elections committee chairman, Sen. Dan Knodl, R-Germantown, refused to advance it.

Knodl in an interview last month on WISN's "Up Front" noted that LeMahieu and Senate President Chris Kapenga could bring it to the floor if they wanted. Kapenga pushed against the bill in a statement on Tuesday.

"It makes sense to sort absentee ballots and verify envelope data on Monday before Election Day, but there aren’t enough controls in place to protect the privacy of votes if opened early. As the rest of the world has figured out, the best way to eliminate irregularities and potential fraud is to just vote and count on the same day," Kapenga said.

Most states provide for some form of early processing of absentee ballots.

Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos last month urged Senate leaders to "come to their senses" on the proposal. Vos said the "late-night ballot dump" narrative is one of the top complaints he hears from voters about Wisconsin's elections.

"I have no idea why senators would not want to solve the problem of these late-night ballot dumps," Vos said.

Assembly Majority Leader Tyler August told reporters last month that if the Senate doesn't take up the bill, Milwaukee officials should work to avoid late postings of results.

Milwaukee Election Commission Executive Director Claire Woodall said the time of night when the city reports its absentee ballot results is not an issue of not having enough election workers. Rather, she said, it’s a product of the complexity of processing and counting the sheer number of absentee ballots cast in a city the size of Milwaukee.

That process involves opening tens of thousands of ballots that have been returned in envelopes, assigning each a voter number and putting the ballots through machines that tally the votes — all while continuing to receive absentee ballots throughout election day from voters across 350 wards.

Woodall said other election professionals are amazed at how quickly and accurately the city performs this process. Most states provide for some form of early processing of absentee ballots.

“We do, I think, an excellent job at balancing efficiency and speed with also accuracy,” she told the Journal Sentinel. “So, we will continue to look for ways to make the process more efficient until the Legislature realizes that this is just not a partisan issue in any other state. I’m confident that we’ll continue to do a good job, just like we have been, and we’ll continue to educate the public about if and when results come in later.”

Molly Beck and Alison Dirr contributed.

Jessie Opoien can be reached at [email protected].

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Absentee 'ballot dump' measure dies as Senate adjourns for the year