Hi, readers.

Before we get into the newsletter, I want to share a little about how Votebeat’s reporting changes election conversations in real time and reduces confusion. 

For the August primary election, I posted up in Milwaukee’s absentee ballot counting facility from 7 a.m. until past 1 a.m. I spent the day observing the facility and reporting out all that I knew after officials mistakenly extracted the wrong data from the city’s tabulators and had to return to the facility later on — delaying unofficial results by well over an hour.

It didn’t take long for conspiracy theories to arise, speculating about whether officials tampered with the results. My reporting about what actually happened was featured by NBC News data analyst Steve Kornacki, Fox News, PBS Wisconsin, and plenty of other outlets. Even Gateway Pundit — a website we don’t typically associate with being accurate on elections — ran a story based on Votebeat’s reporting that didn’t veer into conspiracy theories. 

My reporting also guided several questions that Rep. Dave Maxey, the Republic chair of the Assembly Election Committee, asked Milwaukee’s election chief after the election. 

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On to the newsletter!

The November election is coming up, and it has pretty large implications for Wisconsin election law. 

Democrats are hoping to flip both legislative chambers and take control of the governor’s office, while Republicans hope to retain legislative control and flip the governor’s office.

For a recent Votebeat story, I looked into the potential outcomes of all scenarios: a trifecta for either party or some type of divided government.

Priorities for Democrats include a bill to let officials process ballots on the Monday before elections, allowing voters to spoil a ballot, creating a standard to let officials fix absentee ballot mistakes, and codifying the legality of drop boxes.

Republicans likely have a little less on their plates, largely because they had several years of government control, during which they passed high-priority legislation for them like required voter ID. 

But one area where they’ve stalled — because of Gov. Tony Evers’ veto pen — is legislation to verify citizenship for voters or require Wisconsin residents to display their citizenship on driver’s licences. That has been a national priority for Republicans, but they’ve made little progress here.

Under a divided government, Wisconsin law might not change much at all, UW-Madison political scientist Barry Burden told me. The Monday processing bill might see the light of day again, he said, but it’s hard to imagine any other legislation going through.

Let me know what questions you have about elections in Wisconsin. You can reach me at [email protected] or by replying to this email. 

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