Don’t make it harder for our vote to count

For Immediate Release

Today the Joint Committee for Review of Administrative Rules (JCRAR) rejected the Wisconsin Election Commission’s emergency rule 2209 to clarify the kinds of minor clerical errors election clerks can correct on absentee ballots and should be adopted. This rule would have formalized existing election practices.

“Errors are not voter fraud; they are common mistakes,” said Kit Kerschensteiner, Survival Coalition Co-Chair. “Minor technicalities, like a missing city or zip code on a witness address, are easily corrected, and should not result in an absentee voter’s ballot being discounted.”

Wisconsin’s professional nonpartisan election clerks have local knowledge and common sense, and they currently monitor and correct these mistakes. This practice has been accepted for years and has worked for countless past elections. Read full press release