[ad_1]
MADISON, Wisconsin (AP) – Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers vetoed a series of bills passed by the Republican-controlled state legislature on Tuesday that would have imposed new restrictions on mail-in votes in the key state of the battlefield.
The Democrat also said two counties in Wisconsin should not comply with subpoenas to hand over ballots and voting materials as part of an investigation by the Republican chairman of the Assembly’s electoral commission.
“Hell no,” Evers said when asked if local election clerks had to comply. “You’ve seen what’s going on in Arizona. It’s a clown show.
Wisconsin bills and ongoing inquiries are part of Conservative nationwide push to reshape elections and vote after President Donald Trump narrowly lost a second term to Democrat Joe Biden. Evers’ veto came as Texas Republicans moved closer to building a quorum pass voting changes blocked by Democrats fleeing the state.
Republicans in Wisconsin do not have enough votes to override Evers’ veto. No Democrats have backed the legislation passed in June.
Republican Senate Speaker Chris Kapenga said vetoes made elections less “precise, transparent and secure”.
Biden beat Trump by just under 21,000 votes in Wisconsin. Many state and federal lawsuits brought by Trump and his allies after the defeat have been dismissed.
Still, Wisconsin Republicans approved a review of the 2020 election by the non-partisan Legislative Audit Office and Assembly Speaker Robin Vos authorized a separate investigation. headed by a former judge of the State Supreme Court. State Representative Janel Brandtjen, who heads the Assembly’s election committee, also continues her own ‘cyber-legal’ review of the results, with subpoenas to election clerks in two counties who demand that they turn over ballots and voting materials.
Evers said he expected the subpoenas to be debated in court.
“It’s a ridiculous effort to bring our democracy to a new low,” Evers said of attempts by Republicans in Arizona, Wisconsin and other states to conduct forensic audits of Trump’s defeat in the November 2020 elections. “We have held fair, free and secure elections and Joe Biden is our president. … People need to understand that this election is over.
Brandtjen said if Evers was convinced there was no problem with the election, he would not fight to return the ballots or election materials.
“What are they hiding? said Brandtjen.
Evers called the bills he vetoed “undemocratic,” saying they make it harder for people to vote, especially the elderly and people with disabilities. He vetoed bills in the Capitol Rotunda, surrounded by Democrats and disability advocates.
One of the bills that Evers vetoed reportedly required that most indefinitely confined elderly and disabled people – unable to go to the polls on their own – present photo ID to vote by. correspondence. These voters should request a ballot every year, rather than being sent a ballot automatically. And all absent voters should have filled out more paperwork and shown their ID each time they vote absent, rather than the first time.
Another bill would have blocked the long-standing practice of allowing local election officials to fill in missing information on envelopes voters use to return postal ballots.
Biden’s victory over Trump in Wisconsin confirmed in partial recounts which targeted Democrat-dominated counties of Milwaukee and Dane, where Trump tried and failed to disqualify thousands of absent votes. Among those Trump attempted to throw out were 5,500 mail-in ballots where election clerks filled in missing address information on certification envelopes containing mail-in ballots.
A third bill that Evers vetoed would have banned ballot collections earlier than two weeks before an election. It would also have made it possible to have only one mail-in ballot collection site, located near the local clerk’s office. Republican supporters said the aim was to prevent the “harvesting of ballots” by banning events or places where ballots could be collected.
Another bill that Evers vetoed would have made it a felony for an employee of a nursing home or other care facility to coerce an occupant to ask or not to request a postal ballot . It would also force the nursing home to notify relatives when special deputies planned to be on site to help residents vote.
Vos, the GOP speaker in the assembly, said Evers had made “another capital error” in vetoing the bills.
“These bills have closed loopholes, standardized procedures, established consistency, ensuring that only the voter can correct their own ballot and protecting the votes of older people in long-term care,” Vos said in a statement. communicated. “I am very disappointed that Governor Evers refuses to do the right thing.”
[ad_2]
Source link