Wisconsin governor vetoes GOP election bills

MADISON, WIS. >> Wisconsin's Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, who is up for reelection in November, on Friday vetoed a package of bills passed by the Republicancontrolled Legislature that would have made a series of changes to the battleground state's election laws.

Republicans who fasttracked the bills don't have the votes to override his vetoes. The bills are part of a nationwide Republican effort to reshape elections following President Joe 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 all upheld President Joe 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 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 intendent 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.