The 2024 elections have come and gone, and as certified results pour in from across the state one thing has become abundantly clear: The protections we put in place to secure our elections did the intended job.
Election workers and clerks from across the state did an outstanding job managing record turnout, including a significant number of absentee ballots that were unable to be processed prior to Election Day. In Milwaukee, election officials managed a hiccup with transparency, and swiftly announced the reprocessing of some absentee ballots after consulting openly with Republicans and Democrats.
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This election was, by all accounts, smoothly administered across the state. But America should set the example for every nation around the world, and there is always room for improvement.
Voters trust their own election administrators and support ID laws
I joined RightCount earlier this year to work alongside first responders, veterans, business owners, farmers and Wisconsinites from all walks of life to defend the integrity of our elections and find ways to improve our system moving forward.
Partnerships like these allow us to connect directly with voters and identify areas of concern around the election system, something RightCount did earlier this year. They found that voters trusted their own election administrators, but not those in other counties, cities, or states.
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Voters believed in voter ID, in having a more transparent process, in having paper ballots to keep a full record of the vote total – things we do extremely well in Wisconsin but need to communicate to the public more effectively.
Our elections were conducted safely and fairly in 2024, but without constant evaluation and improvement, we will become a target for bad actors who threaten to upend our system of government.
Bipartisan bill would allow for pre-processing absentee ballots
The simplest first step we can take is to pre-process absentee ballots before Election Day. This year, more than 1.5 million Wisconsinites cast their ballots before election day, and 950,000 of those were early in-person absentee ballots. This is a healthy sign for our state and our nation, engaging more voices with more opportunities to vote for those who are unable to be at their poling place on Election Day, for whatever reason. But when election workers can’t process those ballots prior to Election Day, it forces the hands of the administrators throughout the state.
If we are able to pass legislation to address early ballot processing, you can say goodbye to the “late night ballot dumps” that have become infamous over time and fueled the fire of conspiracy across the country. Rather than having those votes arrive in the dead of night and cast doubt on the outcome, we would know beforehand as tabulators will have already gone through the by the time polls closed.
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The Campaigns and Elections Committee in the State Assembly put forth a bipartisan package of election reforms to address concerns just like these in the last legislative session. Our recommended reforms included pre-processing of ballots, stricter rules around overseas voting to prevent fraud, stronger protections for our election officials, and preventing last minute closures of polling sites. It’s past time to pass these good government reforms and ensure that we are doing everything in our power to protect the voices of Wisconsin voters.
While I wish many of these reforms could have already been in place this election cycle to prevent any claims of impropriety, there is no better time than the present to continue improving. The 2024 Wisconsin general election was a success, the results reflect the 50/50 nature of our state, and I am proud to be leading the charge to make one of our country’s best elections systems even stronger for years to come. Join me in calling for good government reform this legislative session to end doubts about the integrity of Wisconsin elections once and for all.
Scott Krug, R-Wisconsin Rapids, is chair of the Assembly Campaigns and Elections Committee.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin elections reforms would bring more security | Opinion
