Act 124 (AB 298/SB 366) enacted on March 21, 2024 prohibits the future closure of any election polling places at any municipality without the majority approval of the local governing members-elect body and the local municipal clerk.
By H. Nelson Goodson
Hispanic News Network U.S.A.
April 9, 2024
Madison, Wisconsin - Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers signed into law Act 124 and enacted on March 21, 2024, which prohibts any sole local elected official from deciding to close or move election polling places in a municipality unless it has a majority approval of the members-elect of the municipality and the municipal clerk. (https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/2023/related/acts/124)
AB 298/SB 366 was sponsored by Wisconsin State Representative Sylvia Ortiz-Velez (D-Milw) after she and other candidates for public office, Wisconsin State Senator Lena Taylor (D-Milw) who was a candidate for Milwaukee Mayor, and Andrea A. Rodriguez-Strock who was running for Milwaukee County Supervisor experienced unprecedented closure of 97% of the City of Milwaukee election polling places in 2020 under the decision of former Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett who was not legally authorized to do so by State law regardless of any emergency including the COVID-19 pandemic. Only 5 election polling places were left open in the City of Milwaukee preventing thousands of eligible voting residents from getting to the polls and casting their vote for local and Milwaukee County candidates.
According to Rep. Ortiz-Velez, Act 124 makes sure that not one single person would be able to close a substantial amount of polling location in an emergency declaration situation. It requires requiring approval by the governing body at the local level. It does not remove any of the current powers of the clerks to close individual polling locations under our current statutes. It creates a process that invites public input and requires someone to redirect people physically to new polling location, it requires notice of changing the polling places.
According to a memo from Kathie Bender-Olson, the Principle Attorney, Wisconsin Legislative Council in an email to Wisconsin State Senator Mark Spreitzer (D) in May 2023, she wrote"...State law does not authorize or address closing or consolidating polling places by any other entity or in any other situation. No explicit authority exists for the Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC), the Governor, the Department of Health Services (DHS), or a local health officer to consolidate and relocate a polling place, even during a state of emergency. State law does not authorize or address closing or consolidating polling places by any other entity or in any other situation. No explicit authority exists for the Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC), the Governor, the Department of Health Services (DHS), or a local health officer to consolidate and relocate a polling place, even during a state of emergency..." which included Milwaukee Mayor Barrett in 2020.
Also, Representative Ortiz-Velez sponsored AB 853/SB 822, which Governor Evers signed Act 126 into law and enacted on March 21, 2024 that would make it a State felony for anyone attempting to solicit votes through fraud from election officials (example: former U.S. President Donald J. Trump pressuring Georgia's Republican secretary of state to "find" enough votes to overturn Joe Biden's win in the state's Presidential election in 2020), adds Whistleblower protection for municipal clerks, county clerks, and election officials who witness and report election fraud or irregularities, battery against election officials and providing a penalty. (https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/2023/related/acts/126)
Source: Hispanic News Network U.S.A. (HNNUSA)
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