District 1 Rep. Joel Kitchens, Republican from Sturgeon Bay, and Rep. Stausch Gruszynski, Democrat from Green Bay, introduced a bipartisan bill on Monday to ensure Wisconsin is better prepared to hold an election during a public health emergency. The proposal would require the Wisconsin Elections Commission to send an absentee ballot application to all registered voters who do not have one on file. It would also require one polling place to be kept open for every 12,000 legal-voting age citizens in a municipality. The WEC would also have the right to waive the witness signature requirement on absentee ballots in an emergency. Rep. Kitchens says the issues and challenges during this past April’s election during the COVID-19 pandemic necessitated a bipartisan solution for the next state of emergency.

Provisions in the bill would go in effect if a governor declares a state of emergency and if the Wisconsin Elections Commission also approves of conducting an election consistent with the changes in the proposed legislation.  Kitchens adds that an all-mail-in election would be too difficult to implement quickly, and would eliminate same-day registration.  The full press release is below. 

Bipartisan bill to address elections during emergencies