STEVENS POINT, Wis. (WSAU) — A proposal to allow Wisconsinites to register to vote online has local clerks concerned. It’s called the Elections Technology, Access and Security Bill, and was introduced last Friday by Republican State Senator Devin LeMahieu, Republican Representative Kathy Bernier and Democratic Representative Terese Berceau.
Senator LeMahieu is the Chairman of the Senate Elections and Local Government Committee, who says, “Wisconsin’s strong voter ID law has finally taken effect. We now need to take steps to strengthen the security of the voter registration process in order to prevent voter fraud. Online voter registration will reduce the errors associated with traditional paper registrations. By requiring a driver’s license to register online, and joining a nationwide network in the Electronic Registration Information Center, we are also ensuring the highest possible standard to protect the integrity of our elections.”
Stevens Point City Clerk John Moe says the concept of online registration is good, but there are several other things in the bill that raise red flags. “The old saying is that the devil is in the details, and that’s where the meat and potatoes are of this proposal. They want to eliminate special registration deputies. Their argument is, ‘Well, you can register online now.’ but that’s not really the case. Obviously, you’ve got to have Internet access, and there’s still a segment of the population that doesn’t have that.”
Another concern Moe has is the need for your driver’s license address to match your physical address. He says people may go to the Division of Motor Vehicles and pay to update their license when they move, but this requirement will impact college students. “Although they might, for instance, be from Wausau and now they go to the university at Stevens Point, and they’re in the dorms here, well, they’re not going to change their driver’s license address just because they’re currently residing here in Stevens Point, so in that instance, it wouldn’t help them unless they were willing to take that additional step.”
Moe also questions the LeMahieu bill’s testing provisions, which he says are not only ignored for selecting poll workers, but miss testing the trainers. “Although it tests poll workers, it doesn’t test the people that are actually the ones training the poll workers to make sure that they are, in fact, eligible and knowledgeable, and knowledgeable enough to be doing the training, so, if you’re going to be testing anyone, you’ve got to make sure that the people that are out there training poll workers know what they’re talking about.”]
Moe believes the bill proposed by LeMahieu, Bernier and Berceau would be better if it simply focused on creating online registration without adding things that were not well thought out and taking away existing practices that work well. “Online voter registration is the tool that would be good to have here in the State of Wisconsin, however, we’ve got to make sure it’s implemented correctly and make sure it’s done securely.”
The proposal was introduced as Senate Bill 295 last Friday and had a hearing in Madison Tuesday.
Moe says if the Legislature is going to change election laws, he hopes they do so by the end of the year so local election officials have enough time to implement the changes before the February primary elections.
So far, there’s been no comment on the bill from John Moe’s wife, Democratic State Senator Julie Lassa.
(Listen to our interview with Stevens Point City Clerk John Moe on our website, here.)
