Wisconsin Elections Commission Again Asking to Create Office of Election Transparency and Compliance

Friday, September 13th, 2024 -- 10:00 AM

(Sarah Lehr, Wisconsin Public Radio) The Wisconsin Elections Commission is once again asking to create an office tasked with ensuring transparency and accountability in elections. 

According to Sarah Lehr with Wisconsin Public Radio, the commission approved a budget request Wednesday with a 5-1 bipartisan vote. It includes close to $2 million over two years for an Office of Election Transparency and Compliance.

Duties of that 10-person office would include assisting with election audits and responding to questions from the public and the state Legislature. Staffers would also conduct research needed to respond to complaints and to public records requests.

At the commission’s behest, Democratic Gov. Tony Evers included a similar request in his most-recent budget proposal.  But the Legislature’s Republican-controlled Joint Finance Committee removed that item from the two-year budget which took effect in July of last year. Don Millis, a Republican member of the elections commission, said the goal of proposed office is increasing trust.

“To me, it doesn’t matter whether the concerns are really well-grounded in fact, or maybe only partially well-grounded in fact,” Millis said during the commission meeting Wednesday. “I think it’s incumbent upon the commission to to investigate, to make sure that we can prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that there are no problems.”

In recent years, Millis said the commission’s been “inundated” with requests from both the public and state Legislature. He and other commissioners said they hope that, by creating more dedicated staff positions, the WEC will be able to resolve such requests in a more timely manner.

“This proposal funds our responsiveness in a really positive way,” Democratic Commission Chair Ann Jacobs said. “(It) gives better customer service to those people who make open records requests or want their complaint heard within perhaps a month or two and not a year.”

Before 2020, Wisconsin’s elections agency received an average of 15 formal complaints each year. After 2020, that average surged to more than 50 complaints annually, according to data shared by WEC staff.

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