BROWN COUNTY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Some Brown County supervisors want to hear from voters on whether private money and groups should be banned from election administration.
The full county board will likely vote next month on whether to put an advisory referendum on the November ballot.
Brown County Supervisor Randy Schultz tells FOX 11 after inflation, the top concern for people he speaks with is a lack of trust in elections.
“And the biggest part of that is private money coming into municipalities to help with elections. That doesn’t sit good with people.”
Schultz paired with Supervisor Tom Peters on a resolution to ask Brown County voters in November whether Wisconsin should “prohibit election officials from soliciting or using private funds, technology, or services from special interest groups, people, or other private entities for the purpose of administering elections and referendums.”
“The hope is that other counties will follow suit and that de facto will put pressure on the state of Wisconsin to enact some sort of legislation,” said Peters.
Gov. Tony Evers has already vetoed two bills that would have banned the private election grants.
It all stems from the general election in 2020 when the Mark Zuckerberg-funded Center for Tech and Civic Life handed out election grants across the state.
The grants have faced several unsuccessful legal challenges.
Republican state lawmakers also passed a resolution to amend the state constitution to ban private election grants. To take effect, the resolution would need to also pass the legislature next year and voters statewide would have to approve it.
Some municipalities are already taking action on this issue. On Tuesday, Green Bay’s city council will vote on a policy that would ban city personnel from soliciting election grants unless they help with poll worker compensation, leasing polling locations, or PPE.
“Each community should decide how they want to run their election, period,” said Kathy Lefebvre, a Brown County supervisor.
Lefebvre was on Green Bay’s city council when it accepted $1.6 million to help administer the 2020 general election. Critics of the grant say the city provided special interest groups with access to election administration in exchange for the money.
“There was nothing illegal,” said Lefebvre. “There was so much put out there that was false about the whole election. It was run very well and because we got the grants they were able to do things that we wouldn’t have been able to afford.”
Schultz says people who question the grants feel they are being brushed off as conspiracy theorists.
“Folks don’t feel like they’re being heard,” said Schultz. “Let’s get it to them and let them vote on it.”
If the question is approved for the November ballot, the results would not change any laws. However, they’d show those with that power how the majority of people feel.
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