CNOW for Oct. 23, 2023

Today's conservation notices:

• Oppose AJR 76 & SJR 71: Undermining Local Democracies
• Oppose AJR 77 & SJR 78 : Prohibiting Grants that Make Our Elections More Accessible
• Oppose AJR 78 & SJR 73: Baking the Discriminatory Voter ID Law Into Our Constitution
• Support LRB 2683: Supporting Grazing on Perennial Grasslands

Wisconsin Conservation Voters urges you to oppose AJR 76 & SJR 71, which are before the Assembly Committee on Campaigns and Elections, and the Senate Committee on Shared Revenue, Elections, and Consumer Protection on Tuesday.

Communities should have the right to expand participation in their local democratic processes. State and federal governments should be the floor and not the ceiling for what local decision making looks like – whether that’s expanding the freedom to vote, protecting drinking water, or fighting climate change. AJR 76 & SJR 71 work against this principle by proposing a constitutional amendment that would prevent Wisconsin communities from allowing noncitizens to vote in local elections.

Wisconsin Conservation Voters urges you to oppose AJR 77 & SJR 78, which are before the Assembly Committee on Campaigns and Elections, and the Senate Committee on Shared Revenue, Elections, and Consumer Protection on Tuesday.

Our elections officials are responsible for making voting as accessible as possible. Budget shortfalls can hinder their ability to do that. AJR 77 & SJR 78 would make voting access even harder by proposing a constitutional amendment that would prohibit elections officials from using donations and grants for elections administration.

Wisconsin Conservation Voters urges you to oppose AJR 78 & SJR 73, which are before the Assembly Committee on Campaigns and Elections, and the Senate Committee on Shared Revenue, Elections, and Consumer Protection on Tuesday.

The right to vote is a fundamental aspect of our democracy. Wisconsin should be finding ways to ensure that every person eligible to vote has access to the ballot. AJR 78 & SJR 73 work against this goal by proposing a constitutional amendment that would bake our discriminatory voter ID law into the Wisconsin constitution. This would disproportionately impact voters of color, transgender voters, voters with disabilities, and low-income voters.

Wisconsin Conservation Voters urges you to support LRB 2683,, which is circulating for cosponsorship.

Managed grazing protects our water and builds healthy soil. Wisconsin should assist farmers in transitioning to managed grazing systems on perennial grasslands. LRB 2683 would create a new program for providing grants to farmers in making the transition to managed grazing.

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.