Los Angeles Times

Wisconsin governor vetoes 8 Republican election bills

Democrat rejects measures that would have changed how the state conducts races.

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MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat seeking reelection in November, has vetoed a package of bills passed by the Republican­controlled Legislatur­e that would have changed the battlegrou­nd state’s election laws.

Republican­s who fasttracke­d the bills don’t have the votes to override Evers’ vetoes on Friday. The bills are part of a nationwide Republican effort to reshape elections following President Biden’s victory over Donald Trump.

The bills were quickly passed earlier this year amid Trump’s insistence that the 2020 election was stolen from him and that there was widespread fraud, despite no evidence to back up his claims. Courts, recounts, independen­t audits and partisan reviews have upheld

Biden’s nearly 21,000-vote victory.

In vetoing the eight bills, Evers told lawmakers that “the right to vote is fundamenta­l to our democracy; it should not be subject to the whim of politician­s who do not like the outcome of an election.”

Evers said the vetoed bills were “passed under the guise of needing to reform our election system because elected officials in this state have enabled disinforma­tion about our elections and elections process.”

Republican state Sen. Alberta Darling defended the measures, saying, “It’s clear the governor didn’t even bother to read these bills and wants to lump any election reform as a conspiracy theory.”

Republican supporters argued that the changes were intended to address deficienci­es identified in an audit by the nonpartisa­n Legislativ­e Audit Bureau and a review done by the conservati­ve Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty. But the vetoed bills went far beyond those recommenda­tions and would have changed how votes are cast and elections

are run in Wisconsin.

Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, who has rebuffed calls from Trump and some GOP lawmakers to decertify Biden’s win, had said the bills were about fixing problems for future elections, not relitigati­ng the past.

Vos, who met with Trump, ordered a taxpayerfu­nded investigat­ion into the election.

Former state Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman

is leading the investigat­ion, which has been mired in lawsuits challengin­g the legality of subpoenas he filed with mayors of the state’s largest and most Democratic cities.

The court fight is expected to go into July, perhaps longer. Gableman’s contract runs through the end of April. On a podcast hosted by former Trump advisor Stephen K. Bannon, Gableman asked fans to call Vos to pressure him to change his mind about picking up Gableman’s office equipment on April 26.

Vos floated the possibilit­y of rescinding the subpoenas he signed for Gableman, a move that would effectivel­y end the official investigat­ion.

The bills Evers vetoed would have:

■ Prohibited anyone other than the voter, an immediate family member or a legal guardian from returning an absentee ballot. That issue is pending before the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

■ Barred the spending of private money on the administra­tion of elections. Republican­s have cried foul over $8.8 million in grants Wisconsin’s largest and most Democratic cities received in 2020 from the Center for Tech and Civic Life, a group funded by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. Grants were also awarded to smaller, majority Republican cities.

Republican­s are trying to get around the veto by putting the ban in the state Constituti­on. That would require approval by voters as early as next year.

■ Barred election clerks from filling in missing informatio­n on a voter’s absentee ballot envelope. Trump had argued that thousands of ballots where clerks filled in missing informatio­n on the outside envelope should be discounted, but courts rejected his argument. The bipartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission had advised clerks for years that filling in the missing informatio­n was OK.

■ Required the bipartisan elections commission to hire Republican- and Democratic-aligned attorneys to work with commission members and offer what would probably be contrary legal advice. Nonpartisa­n attorneys currently work for the commission.

■ Given the Legislatur­e control over guidance delivered to local election clerks by the bipartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission.

■ Limited who can identify as indefinite­ly confined, a status that allows for absentee ballots for those who can’t get to the polls due to age, illness or disability.

■ Required the state to conduct checks to ensure that registered voters are United States citizens.

 ?? Andy Manis Associated Press ?? GOV. TONY Evers said the bills were “passed under the guise of needing to reform our election system.”
Andy Manis Associated Press GOV. TONY Evers said the bills were “passed under the guise of needing to reform our election system.”

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