CNOW week of Feb. 7, 2022

This week's notices:

• Oppose SB 935: Eliminating Resources for Elections Officials
• Oppose SB 936: Adding Unfunded Costs for Elections Officials
• Oppose SB 937: New Barriers for Indefinitely Confined Voters
• Oppose SB 939: Making It Harder to Vote Absentee
• Oppose SB 941: Partisan Powergrab 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
• Oppose SB 894: Allowing Polluters to Veto Drinking Water Protections
• Oppose SB 900: Selling Our Shoreline
• Cosponsor LRB 5098: Supporting Jail-Based Voting
• Cosponsor LRB 5182: Combatting Felony Disenfranchisement
• Cosponsor LRB 5183: Beginning Automatic Voter Registration
• Cosponsor LRB-5563/1: Expanding Access to Well Testing

Wisconsin Conservation Voters urges you to oppose SB 935, which is before the Senate Committee on Elections, Election Process Reform and Ethics on Monday.

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 Senate Committee on Elections, Election Process Reform and Ethics on Monday.

Our elections officials work hard and have a lot on their plates. If we add to their list of responsibilities, we need to provide new resources to help them fulfill those responsibilities. We also need 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 937, which is before the Senate Committee on Elections, Election Process Reform and Ethics on Monday.

Under Wisconsin law, voters who are indefinitely confined because of age, physical illness, infirmity, or disability may have an absentee ballot automatically sent to them for every election. SB 937 creates new barriers for indefinitely confined voters including new photo ID requirements and a separate application process. This would make it unnecessarily harder for many Wisconsinites to vote.

Wisconsin Conservation Voters urges you to oppose SB 939, which is before the Senate Committee on Elections, Election Process Reform and Ethics on Monday.

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 Senate Committee on Elections, Election Process Reform and Ethics on Monday.

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 Senate Committee on Elections, Election Process Reform and Ethics on Monday.

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 Senate Committee on Elections, Election Process Reform and Ethics on Monday.

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.

Wisconsin Conservation Voters urges you to oppose SB 894, which is before the Senate Committee on Government Operations, Legal Review and Consumer Protection on Tuesday.

To protect our drinking water, groundwater standards must be established by public health experts, not polluters. When setting groundwater standards, our state agencies provide balanced, unbiased scientific review with robust public comment opportunities. SB 894 allows polluters to interfere in this process and shape the outcome to serve their own self-interests, thereby putting our health at risk.

Wisconsin Conservation Voters urges you to oppose SB 900 , which is before the Senate Committee on Government Operations, Legal Review and Consumer Protection on Tuesday.

Under the Wisconsin Constitution, our navigable waters belong to all of us. This means that access to our shoreline is a right that must be protected. SB 900 violates this right by turning over our shoreline to private developers.

Wisconsin Conservation Voters urges you to support LRB 5098, which is circulating for cosponsorship.

In Wisconsin, most of the estimated 13,000 people in Wisconsin county jails are eligible to vote, but are often kept from registering and casting their ballot because of jail-based administrative challenges. LRB 5098 requires the sheriff of each county to establish a plan that ensures eligible Wisconsinites in jail are able to register to vote and cast their ballot.

Wisconsin Conservation Voters urges you to support LRB 5182, which is circulating for cosponsorship.

Because voting is a right, we should not disenfranchise anyone. Currently, we disenfranchise over 60,000 Wisconsinites because of felony convictions, and this disproportionately impacts Black, Indigenous, and Latinx Wisconsinites. We also have one of the most stringent voting rights restoration policies in the nation, only allowing rights restoration after fully completing the terms of a sentence – including probation, parole, and extended supervision. LRB 5182 begins to address this problem by restoring voting rights upon release from prison.

Wisconsin Conservation Voters urges you to support LRB 5183, which is circulating for cosponsorship.

Because voting is a right, we should automatically register all eligible electors. LRB 5183 begins a process for automatically registering voters. It takes additional steps to expand accessibility by combating voter intimidation, establishing a voter bill of rights, and expanding language access.

Wisconsin Conservation Voters urges you to support LRB 5563/1, which is circulating for cosponsorship.

Everyone deserves to know that the water coming out of their tap is safe to drink. Many Wisconsinites using private wells do not have access to funding for regular testing. LRB 5563/1 expands the pool of money available and the number of people who are eligible for testing.

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.