CNOW for Feb. 24, 2022

This week's notices:

• Oppose SB 935: Eliminating Resources for Elections Officials
• Oppose SB 936: Adding Unfunded Costs for Elections Officials
• Oppose SB 939: Making It Harder to Vote Absentee
• Oppose SB 941: Partisan Power Grab in the Wisconsin Elections Commission
• Oppose SB 943: Interfering With Support for Municipal Clerks
• Oppose SJR 101: Prohibiting Grants that Make Our Elections More Accessible

Wisconsin Conservation Voters urges you to oppose SB 935, which is before the Assembly today.

Municipal governments are responsible for making voting as accessible as possible. Budget shortfalls can hinder their ability to expand voter access. SB 935 makes voting access even harder by preventing municipalities from pursuing additional funding sources and severely restricting who can be recruited as a poll worker.

Wisconsin Conservation Voters urges you to oppose SB 936, which is before the Assembly today.

Elections officials work hard and have a lot on their plates. If the legislature adds to their list of responsibilities, it needs to provide new resources to help them fulfill those responsibilities. The legislature also needs to make sure that new expectations don’t disproportionately target some areas of the state over others. SB 936 mandates new unfunded reporting, auditing, and documentation requirements that disproportionately target clerks in Wisconsin’s largest cities.

Wisconsin Conservation Voters urges you to oppose SB 939, which is before the Assembly today.

Whether you vote absentee, at an early voting location, or at the polls on election day, the process should be easy. SB 939 makes it harder to vote absentee by adding a new application process, additional photo ID requirements, and restrictions on how ballots can be returned.

Wisconsin Conservation Voters urges you to oppose SB 941, which is before the Assembly today.

To ensure our elections are fair, we must protect the nonpartisan identity of the Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC). The staff for WEC should have their first allegiance to the voters of Wisconsin, not a political party. SB 941 requires partisan appointment of WEC’s legal counsel, which undermines the integrity of the agency.

Wisconsin Conservation Voters urges you to oppose SB 943, which is before the Assembly today.

To ensure our elections run smoothly, nonpartisan elections experts at the Wisconsin Elections Commission need to be able to quickly distribute guidance to the 1,850 municipal clerks across the state. SB 943 allows a Republican-controlled legislative committee to interfere in this process by giving them more control over what can be used as guidance.

Wisconsin Conservation Voters urges you to oppose SJR 101, which is before the Assembly today.

Our elections officials are responsible for making voting as accessible as possible. Budget shortfalls can hinder their ability to do that. SJR 101 makes voting access even harder by proposing a constitutional amendment that would prohibit elections officials from using donations and grants for elections administration.

Conservation Notices of the Week (CNOW) announces the pro-conservation positions on issues before the senate, assembly and/or governor in the week ahead to state legislators. Others wishing to follow activities in the state legislature also receive CNOW, including legislative staff, conservation voters, and media. All of these issues are tracked on the Vote Tracker. Issues in the CNOW may appear in the Conservation Scorecard.