| By Neil Johnson, reporter/anchor, Big Radio |
The upcoming February Presidential primary could have a more streamlined feel for absentee voters.
That’s if the Wisconsin legislature keeps rolling on a bill that would prevent clerks having to mail absentee voters two separate ballots at different times: One with Presidential primary ballots and other local and statewide primary races.
Rock County Clerk Lisa Tollefson says the state law mandates a 47-day timeline for mailing out Presidential absentee ballots. It means clerks’ offices statewide must mail out Presidential primary portions of the ballot separate from local portions.
Under the current law, absentee voters would be mailed one ballot with Presidential primary candidates. Those voters would then be mailed a second, separate ballot with local and state primary races mailed, but not until about 21 days before the election.
That’s because the legal deadlines for mailing voters absentee ballots on local and statewide races don’t mesh up with the Presidential primary. They’re now 26 days apart.
Clerks wouldn’t have the second wave of ballots — the ones for local and state races — printed and available to mail to absentee voters until weeks after they’re required by law to mail the Presidential primary side.
Tollefson says the split-up ballot causes confusing for voters who get two ballots in the mail with different races printed on them. It also costs the clerk’s office extra on mailing. It’s a change she’s been lobbying for since 2019.
The proposed law change would give clerks time to place both presidential side and local side races on the same ballot, rather than on two ballots mailed separately.
The Senate bill already has passed with bipartisan support. It was coauthored by both Democrat and Republican state lawmakers, including Beloit Democratic state Sen. Mark Spreitzer.
Spreitzer says the goal is to get the bill through the Assembly this fall and on to the governor’s desk. That could put the law change in place before the early weeks of 2024, when clerks’ offices begin preparations for the primary.
