Sky21– Next month, voters in Wisconsin will decide if it is illegal to accept private grant money to help run state elections. This is one of two ballot measures backed by Republicans that Democrats say are meant to make it harder to run elections in the key presidential state.
The constitutional changes on the state’s April 2 ballot also include a change that will only let election workers who are authorized by law run the elections. The changes would be made to the state’s constitution if most people agree with them.
Beginning Tuesday, people who are absent but want to vote can do so in person early until March 31.
In at least 27 states since 2020, Republicans have banned or limited private election funds.
Republican and conservative groups in Wisconsin favor the measures, while liberal and government watchdog groups like the American Civil Liberties Union, Common Cause Wisconsin, Wisconsin Conservation Voters, and the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin are against them.
The change was not supported by any Democrats in the House. It will be split into two questions on the April ballot.
The Wisconsin laws came about because former President Donald Trump and his followers spread false claims that large-scale voter fraud swung the 2020 presidential election in favor of Vice President Joe Biden.
In a message on X, formerly Twitter, state Sen. Eric Wimberger, who helped write the amendments, said, “People need to trust that elections are run fairly and impartially.” “Wisconsin’s status as a swing state makes election integrity measures important locally, nationally and internationally.”
People who are against the measures say they are meant to make it harder to hold elections.
He said, “These proposals, while claiming to protect our elections, are really just thinly veiled attempts to limit voting rights and weaken the very foundations of our democracy.” Liebert is the state director of All Voting is Local Action Wisconsin, a liberal advocacy group that works to protect access to elections.
The changes are a direct response to a Republican complaint about grant money that came to Wisconsin in 2020 from the Center for Tech and Civic Life. This is a liberal group that works for voter access and got a one-time donation from Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan.
These are the five biggest towns in the state. All of them went with Biden and got $8.8 million. In Wisconsin, they were one of about 200 places that got about $10 million as part of a $350 million national grant to help pay for running polls during the COVID-19 pandemic before vaccines were available.
Republicans called the money “Zuckerbucks” and said most of it went to Democratic strongholds. They also said the millionaire was trying to swing the vote in favor of Democrats.
In support of the measure, Kyle Koenen, policy director for the conservative law firm Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, said, “To protect fairness and the integrity of our democratic process, it is essential to maintain a nonpartisan electoral system that is free from outside financial influences.”
They have said many times that the one-time gift was meant to help people vote by improving the election infrastructure at the height of the pandemic.
It was the Republicans in Wisconsin who brought up the constitutional amendment to get around Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, who would have probably killed it if it had been a regular bill. Changes don’t need to be approved by the government.
Three courts and the Wisconsin Elections Commission, which is made up of people from both parties, turned down complaints that the grant money wasn’t valid.
That question, which was about who can work at a polling place, was split off from the question about private money.
The rules for becoming a poll worker in Wisconsin are already written down in law. Poll workers are the ones who check and count votes, meet voters, and do other jobs. For example, anyone who works at a polling place must be approved by the city or town from a list of candidates put forward by the two main parties. They must also be able to vote in the county where the election is being held and not be a candidate or connected to a candidate on the ballot.
Adopting the amendment wouldn’t seem to change anything about how things are done now, other than putting standards that are currently in state law into the constitution. In that case, it would be harder to change the standards.
People who are against the amendment are worried that if it is passed, people will try to stop present practices that make it easier for people to vote.
The nonpartisan Legislative Reference Bureau says that since the state constitution was written in 1848, voters in Wisconsin have agreed to 148 of the 200 suggested changes to it. Three have been approved by voters since Evers took office.
There will be more, though, after the two in April.
A law change will be put to the vote in August. This will give the Legislature a say in how government money is spent instead of the governor.
There is a change on the November ballot that says only people who are 18 years old or older and are citizens of the United States can vote. The Wisconsin Constitution says that any U.S. person over the age of 18 can vote. But it doesn’t say that only citizens of the United States can vote in state or local elections.
To vote in national elections, you must already be a citizen of the United States, and none of the state constitutions allow noncitizens to vote in state or local elections.
But there has been a push for states to make it clear that only citizens of the United States can vote in state and local elections. People who are not citizens of the United States can vote in some places and towns across the country.