2023 - 2024 LEGISLATURE
LRB-5028/1
MPG&JK:emw
2023 SENATE BILL 631
November 7, 2023 - Introduced by Senator JACQUE, cosponsored by
Representatives MAXEY, MACCO, ARMSTRONG, EDMING, MICHALSKI, MURPHY,
RETTINGER, STEFFEN and VANDERMEER. Referred to Committee on Shared
Revenue, Elections and Consumer Protection.
1 AN ACT to renumber 6.875 (4) (b) and 6.875 (6) (e); to renumber and amend
2 6.87 (6d), 6.87 (9) and 7.51 (1); to amend 6.87 (2) (intro.), 6.875 (4) (a), 6.875
3 (6) (a), 7.03 (1) (d), 7.30 (3) (a), 7.315 (1) (a), 7.53 (2) (cm) and 12.60 (1) (a); and
4 to create 6.87 (6d) (a) to (L), 6.87 (9) (b), 6.875 (4) (b) 2., 6.875 (6) (e) 2., 6.875
5 (8), 7.30 (7), 7.51 (1) (b), 12.13 (2) (b) 9., 12.13 (2) (b) 10., 12.13 (2) (b) 11., 12.13
6 (3) (zp) and 12.13 (3m) of the statutes; relating to: certain kinds of election
7 fraud, defects on absentee ballot certificates, returning absentee ballots to the
8 office of the municipal clerk, appointment of election officials, allowing an
9 employee of a residential care facility or qualified retirement home to serve as
10 a personal care voting assistant during a public health emergency or an
11 incident of infectious disease, and providing a penalty.
Analysis by the Legislative Reference Bureau
RETIREMENT HOMES AND RESIDENTIAL CARE FACILITIES
Personal care voting assistants
Under current law, absentee voting in person inside residential care facilities
and qualified retirement homes may be conducted only if the municipal clerk or
2023 - 2024 Legislature -2- LRB-5028/1
MPG&JK:emw
SENATE BILL 631
board of election commissioners adopts procedures allowing voters residing in such
a facility or home to apply for, receive, and complete an absentee ballot by means of
special voting deputies dispatched to the facility or home for that purpose. A
municipality that appoints special voting deputies must appoint at least two special
voting deputies for the municipality, and the deputies must be eligible voters of the
county where the municipality is located. In addition, the two deputies designated
to visit each qualified retirement home and residential care facility must be affiliated
with different political parties whenever deputies representing different parties are
available. Current law prohibits individuals employed at a residential care facility
or qualified retirement home in the municipality, or any member of the individual's
immediate family, from serving as a special voting deputy.
Under this bill, during a public health emergency or an incident of infectious
disease that results in restricting entry to a residential care facility or qualified
retirement home, the municipal clerk or board of election commissioners may
appoint any individual who is employed at a residential care facility or qualified
retirement home in the municipality to serve as a personal care voting assistant. A
personal care voting assistant need not be an eligible voter of the county but must
be an eligible voter of this state. A personal care voting assistant must complete a
two-hour online training prescribed by the Elections Commission and take the same
oath of office as a special voting deputy appointed under current law. In addition,
the two personal care voting assistants appointed to each facility or home must be
affiliated with different political parties whenever assistants representing different
parties are available. The bill also prohibits a personal care voting assistant from
assisting in or facilitating the registration of any resident of a residential care facility
or qualified retirement home.
Under the bill, an employee of the facility or home acting as a personal care
voting assistant must complete documentation, on a form prescribed by the Elections
Commission, that provides the assistant's name, the name of the voter, and the type
of assistance provided to the voter. The form must be separate from the absentee
ballot certificate, but the information contained on the form must also be included
on the absentee ballot return envelope. The administrator of the home or facility
must deliver the forms to the municipal clerk or board of election commissioners and
may arrange for an election official, other than a personal care voting assistant, to
collect and return the absentee ballots to the clerk or board. Otherwise, all absentee
ballots completed with the assistance of a personal care voting assistant must be
mailed to the clerk or board.
Entry to a facility
The bill prohibits residential care facilities and qualified retirement homes
from denying entry to special voting deputies appointed under current law, except
when the facility or home is closed to the public during a public health emergency or
an incident of infectious disease. Under the bill, if a home or facility is closed to the
public during such an emergency or incident, the home or facility must allow
personal care voting assistants to supervise the absentee voting procedure used by
occupants of the home or facility.
 LRB-5028/1
2023 - 2024 Legislature -3- MPG&JK:emw
SENATE BILL 631
In addition, under the bill, no administrator of a qualified retirement home or
residential care facility may deny a special voting deputy from entering the home or
facility unless the governor declares a public health emergency.
Visits to facilities
Under current law, the special voting deputies must, not later than 5 p.m. on
the sixth working day preceding an election, arrange with the administrator of the
qualified retirement home or residential care facility one or more convenient times
to visit the home or facility. Current law also requires that the visits be no earlier
than the fourth Monday preceding the election and no later than 5 p.m. on the
Monday preceding the election.
Under the bill, the special voting deputies must make arrangements to visit the
qualified retirement homes or residential care facilities no later than 5 p.m. on the
11th working day preceding the election, and the visits may be no earlier than the
fourth Monday preceding the election and no later than 5 p.m. on the sixth working
day preceding the election.
Under current law, if an eligible voter at a residential care facility or qualified
retirement home is not able to cast his or her ballot on two separate visits by special
voting deputies to the home or facility, the deputies must notify the municipal clerk
or board of election commissioners. The clerk or board may then send the voter an
absentee ballot no later than the Friday before the election. Under the bill, if an
eligible voter of a facility or home is not able to cast his or her ballot on two separate
visits by the special voting deputies because access to the home or facility is restricted
due to a public health emergency or incident of infectious disease, the deputies must
notify the municipal clerk or board of election commissioners. The clerk or board may
then send the voter an absentee ballot as provided under current law.
Penalty
Finally, the bill provides that an employee of a qualified retirement home or
residential care facility who coerces an occupant of the home or facility to apply for
or not apply for an absentee ballot or to cast or refrain from casting a ballot or who
coerces an occupant to cast a ballot for or against a particular candidate or ballot
question is guilty of a Class I felony. In addition, an employee of a qualified
retirement home or residential care facility who coerces an occupant of the home or
facility to register or not register to vote is guilty of a Class I felony.
ELECTION FRAUD
Current law prohibits election officials from committing certain kinds of
election fraud, including permitting a person to register to vote or vote when the
election official knows the person is not qualified to do so. The bill provides further
that no election official may do any of the following:
1. Intentionally assist or cause the casting or counting of a vote or the receipt
of a registration that the election official knows is invalid.
2. Intentionally assist or cause a vote or registration to be rejected when the
election official knows the vote or registration is valid.
3. Intentionally fail to promptly report election fraud committed by another
election official.
2023 - 2024 Legislature -4- LRB-5028/1
MPG&JK:emw
SENATE BILL 631
Under the bill, election officials violating the prohibitions described above are
guilty of a Class I felony.
ABSENTEE BALLOT CERTIFICATES
Under current law, absentee ballot envelopes include a printed certificate that
must be completed, signed by the voter and a qualified witness, and returned to the
municipal clerk with the completed ballot so that it is delivered to the polling place
no later than 8 p.m. on election day. By completing and signing the certificate, the
voter certifies that he or she is entitled to vote in the election and that the voter
completed his or her absentee ballot in the presence of the witness. The witness
certificate includes the witness's printed name and address in addition to his or her
signature. If a municipal clerk receives an absentee ballot with an improperly
completed certificate or with no certificate, the clerk may, but is not required to,
return the ballot to the voter whenever time permits so that the voter may correct
the defect. If a certificate is missing the address of the witness, the ballot may not
be counted.
Under the bill, if a municipal clerk receives an absentee ballot with an
improperly completed certificate or with no certificate, in addition to being
authorized to return the ballot to the elector, the clerk is required to post a
notification of the defect on the voter's voter information page on the website that is
used by voters for original registration, currently titled MyVote Wisconsin.
Additionally, under the bill, the clerk may attempt to notify the voter of the defect
by other means.
Additionally, under the bill, an absentee ballot with no certificate or with a
certificate that does not include all of the following may not be counted:
1. The voter 's printed first name.
2. The voter's printed last name.
3. The voter's house or apartment number.
4. The voter's street name.
5. The voter's municipality.
6. The voter's signature.
7. The witness's printed first name.
8. The witness's printed last name.
9. The witness's house or apartment number.
10. The witness's street name.
11. The witness's municipality.
12. The witness's signature.
Finally, the bill prohibits any person other than the voter, or the witness with
respect to the witness certificate, from correcting a defect in the voter's absentee
ballot certificate. Whoever violates that prohibition is subject to a fine not to exceed
$500 or imprisonment not to exceed 30 days, or both.
APPOINTMENT OF POLL WORKERS
The bill prohibits the appointment of any poll worker who is an employee of any
of the following:
 LRB-5028/1
2023 - 2024 Legislature -5- MPG&JK:emw
SENATE BILL 631
1. A candidate committee, legislative campaign committee, political action
committee, independent expenditure committee, political party, recall committee, or
referendum committee, as those terms are defined by law.
2. A political organization required to register with the Federal Election
Commission.
3. An issue advocacy group.
MUNICIPAL BOARD OF CANVASSERS
Current law requires that the municipal board of canvassers of each
municipality convene immediately following the close of the polls on election day to
publicly canvass the ballots cast. The board may not adjourn until the canvass is
completed, except that the board may adjourn and reconvene at a central count
location to complete the canvass. Current law also requires the municipal clerk to
appoint an individual to serve as a member of the board of canvassers if there are one
or more temporary vacancies on the board and the number of available members to
canvass the ballots is less than three.
The bill allows a municipal board of canvassers to recess as the result of a
natural disaster, if a board member is ill or otherwise incapacitated, or if the physical
condition of the canvass location is unsuitable for continuing the canvass. However,
the bill requires that the board reconvene as soon as possible. In addition, if the
board recesses because a member is ill or otherwise incapacitated, the bill requires
the municipal clerk to immediately appoint an individual to fill the vacancy on the
board to temporarily replace that member.
Because this bill creates a new crime or revises a penalty for an existing crime,
the Joint Review Committee on Criminal Penalties may be requested to prepare a
report.
For further information see the state and local fiscal estimate, which will be
printed as an appendix to this bill.
The people of the state of Wisconsin, represented in senate and assembly, do
enact as follows:
1 SECTION 1. 6.87 (2) (intro.) of the statutes is amended to read:
2 6.87 (2) (intro.) Except as authorized under sub. (3) (d), the municipal clerk
3 shall place the ballot in an unsealed envelope furnished by the clerk. The envelope
4 shall have the name, official title and post-office address of the clerk upon its face.
5 The other side of the envelope shall have a printed certificate which shall include a
6 space for the municipal clerk or deputy clerk to enter his or her initials indicating
7 that if the absentee elector voted in person under s. 6.86 (1) (ar), the elector presented
 2023 - 2024 Legislature -6- LRB-5028/1
MPG&JK:emw
SENATE BILL 631 SECTION 1
1 proof of identification to the clerk and the clerk verified the proof presented. The
2 certificate shall also include a space for the municipal clerk or deputy clerk to enter
3 his or her initials indicating that the elector is exempt from providing proof of
4 identification because the individual is a military elector or an overseas elector who
5 does not qualify as a resident of this state under s. 6.10 or is exempted from providing
6 proof of identification under sub. (4) (b) 2. or 3. The certificate shall include a distinct
7 field for each item required to be entered under sub. (6d) and shall be in substantially
8 the following form:
9 SECTION 2. 6.87 (6d) of the statutes is renumbered 6.87 (6d) (intro.) and
10 amended to read:
11 6.87 (6d) (intro.) If a certificate is missing the address of a witness, the ballot
12 An absentee ballot with no certificate or with a certificate that does not include all
13 of the following may not be counted.:
14 SECTION 3. 6.87 (6d) (a) to (L) of the statutes are created to read:
15 6.87 (6d) (a) The elector's printed first name.
16 (b) The elector's printed last name.
17 (c) The elector's house or apartment number.
18 (d) The elector's street name.
19 (e) The elector's municipality.
20 (f) The elector's signature.
21 (g) The witness's printed first name.
22 (h) The witness's printed last name.
23 (i) The witness's house or apartment number.
24 (j) The witness's street name.
25 (k) The witness's municipality.
 LRB-5028/1
2023 - 2024 Legislature -7- MPG&JK:emw
SENATE BILL 631 SECTION 3
1 (L) The witness's signature.
2 SECTION 4. 6.87 (9) of the statutes is renumbered 6.87 (9) (a) and amended to
3 read:
4 6.87 (9) (a) If a municipal clerk receives an absentee ballot with an improperly
5 completed certificate or with no certificate, the clerk may return the ballot to the
6 elector, inside the sealed envelope when an envelope is received, together with a new
7 envelope if necessary, whenever time permits the elector to correct the defect and
8 return the ballot within the period authorized under sub. (6), and the clerk shall post
9 a notification of the defect on the elector's voter information page on the website that
10 is used by electors for original registration under s. 6.30 (5). The clerk may also
11 attempt to notify the elector of the defect by other means.
12 SECTION 5. 6.87 (9) (b) of the statutes is created to read:
13 6.87 (9) (b) No person other than the elector, or the witness with respect to the
14 witness certificate, may correct a defect in the elector's absentee ballot certificate.
15 Whoever violates this paragraph is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a fine not
16 to exceed $500 or imprisonment not to exceed 30 days, or both.
17 SECTION 6. 6.875 (4) (a) of the statutes is amended to read:
18 6.875 (4) (a) For the purpose of absentee voting in qualified retirement homes
19 and residential care facilities, the municipal clerk or board of election commissio