Bipartisan group launches effort to boost absentee voting, make polling places safe
MADISON - The current and former attorneys general of Wisconsin are leading a campaign to expand absentee voting and to make it safe to cast ballots in person — an effort aiming to ensure Wisconsin's second major pandemic election goes more smoothly than the first.
Attorney General Josh Kaul, a Democrat, and former Republican Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen are at the head of a bipartisan group known as VoteSafe WI composed of a former governor, former congressmen, and state and local leaders.
The goal appears to be educating voters about how to vote by mail. Van Hollen told reporters in a call Tuesday that he believes mishaps during the spring election with absentee voting would have been fewer if voters had better information.
"We're trying to eliminate some of that confusion," he said.
The effort is a Wisconsin arm of a national group led by former U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security and Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge, a Republican, and former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, a Democrat.
"When it comes to preparing our voting systems for November, we must be prepared to execute two simultaneous elections — an in-person option with all of the secure infrastructure and health accommodations that requires, plus a robust and secure absentee ballot process with the support needed to run efficiently," Granholm and Ridge said in a recent statement.
Kaul and Van Hollen didn't have specific details about how the group would work, but Kaul said raising awareness is a key goal.
Van Hollen said the group may pay for ads to accomplish the goal.
"We want to use that time to get in place procedures to make sure voters are safe and secure to vote," Kaul said.
The group seeks to boost mail-in voting at a time when President Donald Trump is seeking to block such efforts.
Trump, who narrowly won Wisconsin in 2016, has voiced suspicions about mail voting and has alleged without evidence that it contributes to voter fraud. Despite his opposition to the practice, many Wisconsin Republicans have gotten behind the idea this year.
And Wisconsin's campaign comes three months after the state's spring election, during which state leaders were heavily criticized over the way it played out.
The April 7 election was held after a last-minute effort by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers to postpone it and a chaotic 24 hours during which Republican legislative leaders successfully fought to keep it in place.
A U.S. Supreme Court decision issued during the battle creating a postmark deadline in state law resulted in hundreds of ballots from being counted.
Van Hollen told reporters Tuesday that the group's launch is not a direct reaction to the April 7 election, but that the effort wouldn't likely exist if the pandemic hadn't happened.
Voters here are increasingly turning to mail voting amid the coronavirus outbreak. Health experts say absentee voting helps reduce the risk of the spread of the virus since many fewer people will be gathering in person.
Nearly 1 million people voted by mail in the April election for state Supreme Court, far outstripping the previous record. Even more are expected to vote absentee for the presidential election in November.
The post office's internal watchdog chalked the problems up to receiving outgoing absentee ballots at the last moment from election officials, inconsistent postmarking of ballots and one mail carrier's inattention to getting absentee ballots to voters in Fox Point.
A massive shortage of poll workers also pushed election officials in large municipalities to consolidate the number of polling locations for in-person voting.
In Milwaukee and Green Bay, tens of thousands of people had just a handful of places to cast ballots — leading to long lines and hours-long waits.
Members of the VoteSafe WI group include:
Former Gov. Scott McCallum (R) Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett (D) Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley (D)
Former Congressman Tom Petri (R)
Former Congressman Reid Ribble (R)
State Treasurer Sarah Godlewski (D)