applying for and returning absentee ballots; use of central counting locations; election night reporting; court determinations of incompetency and ineligibility to vote; preelection tests of electronic voting equipment, and providing a penalty

Wisconsin Legislature: AB617: Bill Text

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AB617: Bill Text

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2025 - 2026 LEGISLATURE
LRB-5366/1
MPG:skw&cjs
2025 ASSEMBLY BILL 617
November 4, 2025 - Introduced by Representatives
Krug
,
Snyder
,
O'Connor
and
Knodl
, cosponsored by Senator
Cabral-Guevara
. Referred to Committee on Campaigns and Elections.
AB617,1,8
1
An Act

to repeal
5.85 (5), 5.86, 6.79 (2) (d) and 7.03 (1) (c);
to amend
5.05 (12),
2
5.84 (1), 5.84 (2), 5.85 (1), 5.87 (1), 5.91 (17), 6.18 (form), 6.33 (1), 6.87 (3) (d),
3
6.87 (9), 7.37 (12), 7.51 (1), 10.01 (2) (e), 12.60 (1) (a) and 54.25 (2) (c) 1. g.;
to
4
create
5.057, 6.855 (3m), 6.86 (1) (as) and 7.15 (16) of the statutes;
relating
5
to:
applying for and returning absentee ballots; use of central counting
6
locations; election night reporting; court determinations of incompetency and
7
ineligibility to vote; preelection tests of electronic voting equipment, and
8
providing a penalty.
Analysis by the Legislative Reference Bureau
Location of alternate absentee ballot sites
Current law authorizes municipalities to establish one or more alternate absentee ballot sites to which voters may return absentee ballots for an election and and at which they may apply for and vote an in-person absentee ballot. An alternate site must be located as near as practicable to the office of the municipal clerk or board of election commissioners and may not be designated in such a way as to afford an advantage to any political party.
Under the bill, an alternate absentee ballot site must be in a building or facility constituting a fixed location.
Absentee ballot certificate defects
Under current law, a municipal clerk may return to the voter an absentee ballot with an improperly completed certificate or with no certificate whenever time permits the voter to correct the defect and return the absentee ballot to the polling place before 8 p.m. on election day. Under the bill, the municipal clerk must return such an absentee ballot to the voter under those circumstances.
Absentee ballot request and return confirmation
Current law allows a voter to receive an absentee ballot by making a written application by means of facsimile transmission or electronic mail. Under the bill, if a voter makes a written application by electronic mail and submits his or her mobile telephone number with the application, after the voter completes and submits the application, the electronic application system maintained by the Elections Commission must automatically notify the voter by text message that his or her application has been received. In addition, under the bill, after the voter completes and returns his or her ballot, the system must automatically notify the voter by text message that his or her ballot has been received. The bill provides that all mobile telephone numbers submitted for the purposes provided under the bill are confidential.
Under the bill, information concerning such text message notifications must be included in the type E notice, which the municipal clerk must publish in advance of each election. The type E notice provides information to voters concerning voting by absentee ballot. The bill also requires that the type E notice be published on the municipality’s website if it has one.
Absentee ballot application deadline
Under current law, if a voter applies for an absentee ballot by mail, the application must be received by the municipal clerk no later than 5 p.m. on the fifth day immediately preceding the election. This bill changes that deadline to the seventh day immediately preceding the election.
Election night reporting
Under the bill, at 10 p.m. on election night, and every hour thereafter until the canvass is complete, each municipal clerk or his or her designee must provide to the county clerk of the county in which the municipality is located a statement that shows the total number of ballots, including absentee ballots, cast at the municipality in the election, the total number of ballots, including absentee ballots, that have been canvassed, and the total number of ballots, including absentee ballots, that remain to be canvassed. The county clerk must promptly post each statement on the website on which the county clerk posts returns on election night. In a municipality having a municipal board of election commissioners (currently, only the city of Milwaukee), the municipal board of election commissioners must also post the statement on the website maintained by the municipal board of election commissioners. The statement may not include the names or addresses of any electors.
Court determinations of incompetency and ineligibility to vote
Under current law, no person who is incapable of understanding the objective of the elective process or who is under a guardianship may vote unless a court has determined that the person is competent to vote. Current law also allows any voter in a municipality to petition a circuit court to determine whether a person residing in the municipality is incapable of understanding the objective of the elective process. If the court determines that the person is incapable of such understanding, the person is not eligible to register to vote or to vote. Current law requires the clerk of the circuit court to communicate the court’s determinations, in writing, to the election officials who are responsible for determining challenges to registration and voting that may be brought against the person.
The bill requires the circuit court to notify the Elections Commission, by email, of the court’s determination regarding incompetency and ineligibility to register to vote or to vote. Under the bill, when the commission receives a determination of incompetency and ineligibility to register to vote or to vote, the commission must, within three business days, change the status of the voter subject to the determination to inactive on the official voter registration list, note on the list that the voter is ineligible to register to vote or to vote, and notify the voter and the voter’s municipal clerk of the voter’s change in status. The bill also provides that if a court reviews a determination of incompetency and ineligibility to vote and restores the voter’s right to vote, upon receipt of that determination by email, the commission must, within three business days, notify the voter that the voter is eligible to vote and that the voter is required to complete a new registration to vote if the voter intends to vote. Under the bill, the clerk must examine the registration list before issuing a ballot to any voter.
Use of central counting locations
Under current law, votes are canvassed at the polling place on election day, except that any municipality where an electronic voting system is used may elect to adjourn the canvass to a central counting location where all votes cast in the municipality may be counted on election day. The bill eliminates the option for municipalities to use such central counting locations.
Preelection tests of electronic voting equipment
Current law requires the municipal clerk of each municipality that employs an electronic voting system that uses automatic tabulating equipment at a polling place or a central count location to conduct a public test of the equipment not more than 10 days before an election. Under the bill, the municipal clerk is required to conduct that test not more than 15 days before the election.
Because this bill creates a new crime or revises a penalty for an existing crime, the Joint Review Committee on Criminal Penalties may be requested to prepare a report.
For further information see the state and local fiscal estimate, which will be printed as an appendix to this bill.
The people of the state of Wisconsin, represented in senate and assembly, do enact as follows:
AB617,1
1
Section
1
.
5.05 (12) of the statutes is amended to read:
AB617,2,7
2
5.05
(12)

Voter education.
The commission may conduct or prescribe
3
requirements for educational programs to inform electors about voting procedures,
4
voting rights, and voting technology. The commission shall conduct an educational
5
program for the purpose of educating electors
who cast paper ballots, ballots that
6
are counted at a central counting location, and absentee ballots
of the effect of
7
casting excess votes for a single office.
AB617,2
8
Section
2
.
5.057 of the statutes is created to read:
AB617,3,4
9
5.057 Determination of ineligibility to vote due to incompetency. (1)

10
Upon receipt of a determination of ineligibility to register to vote or to vote under s.
11
54.25 (2) (c) 1. g., the commission shall, no later than 3 business days after receiving
12
the determination, change the status of the elector subject to the determination to
13
inactive on the official registration list under s. 6.36, note on the list that the elector
14
is ineligible to register to vote or to vote in accordance with s. 6.03 (3), and notify the
15
elector and the elector’s municipal clerk of the elector’s change in status. If the
16
commission does not have a record of the elector upon receipt of a determination of
17
ineligibility, the commission shall create a record listing the elector as ineligible to
18
vote in accordance with s. 6.03 (3) and provide a copy of that record to the elector’s
19
municipal clerk. Upon receipt of a registration to vote, the municipal clerk shall
1
examine the registration list to determine whether the elector is ineligible to
2
register to vote or to vote in accordance with s. 6.03 (3) and shall notify the elector if
3
the clerk determines that the elector is ineligible. The clerk shall examine the
4
registration list before issuing a ballot to any elector.
AB617,3,12
5
(2)
If under s. 54.64 (2) (a) a court subsequently reviews a determination of
6
ineligibility to vote under s. 54.25 (2) (c) 1. g. and restores an elector’s right to vote,
7
as provided under s. 54.64 (2) (c), upon receipt of the reviewing court’s
8
determination, the commission shall, no later than 3 business days after receiving
9
the determination, notify the elector that the elector is eligible to vote, but that the
10
elector is required to complete a new voter registration if the elector intends to vote.
11
The commission shall submit with the notice a registration form for the elector to
12
complete and return to the municipal clerk, if the elector intends to vote.
AB617,3
13
Section
3
.
5.84 (1) of the statutes is amended to read:
AB617,4,11
14
5.84
(1)
Where any municipality employs an electronic voting system
which

15
that
utilizes automatic tabulating equipment,
either at the polling place or at a
16
central counting location,
the municipal clerk shall, on any day not more than
10

15

17
days prior to the
election
day on which the equipment is to be utilized
in an election
,
18
have the equipment tested to ascertain that it will correctly count the votes cast for
19
all offices and on all measures. Public notice of the time and place of the test shall
20
be given by the clerk at least 48 hours prior to the test
by posting notice on the
21
municipality’s website if it has one or, if the municipality has no website,
by
22
publication of a class 1 notice under ch. 985 in one or more newspapers published
23
within the municipality if a newspaper is published therein, otherwise in a
1
newspaper of general circulation therein. The test shall be open to the public. The
2
test shall be conducted by processing a preaudited group of ballots so marked as to
3
record a predetermined number of valid votes for each candidate and on each
4
referendum. The test shall include for each office one or more ballots which have
5
votes in excess of the number allowed by law and, for a partisan primary election,
6
one or more ballots which have votes cast for candidates of more than one
7
recognized political party, in order to test the ability of the automatic tabulating
8
equipment to reject such votes. If any error is detected, the municipal clerk shall
9
ascertain the cause and correct the error. The clerk shall make an errorless count
10
before the automatic tabulating equipment is approved by the clerk for use in the
11
election.
AB617,4
12
Section
4
.
5.84 (2) of the statutes is amended to read:
AB617,4,18
13
5.84
(2)
Before beginning the ballot count at each polling place
or at the
14
central counting location
, the election officials shall witness a test of the automatic
15
tabulating equipment by engaging the printing mechanism and securing a printed
16
result showing a zero count for every candidate and referendum. After the
17
completion of the count, the ballots and programs used shall be sealed and retained
18
under the custody of the municipal clerk in a secure location.
AB617,5
19
Section
5
.
5.85 (1) of the statutes is amended to read:
AB617,5,9
20
5.85
(1)
At any polling place at which an electronic voting system is utilized,
21
the following procedures for receiving, counting, tallying
,
and return of the ballots
22
shall be used. Whenever paper ballots are utilized at a polling place in combination
23
with ballots employed in an electronic voting system, the paper ballots shall be
1
deposited in a separate ballot box or boxes, according to the types of ballots used.
2
For the purpose of transporting the ballots or the record of the votes cast, the
3
municipal clerk shall provide a secure container for each polling place. At each
4
polling place, the applicable portions of the procedure prescribed for initiating the
5
canvass under s. 7.51 (1) and (2) shall be performed
, except that no count of the
6
ballots, except write-in votes and paper ballots used for absentee voting and other
7
purposes authorized by law, may be performed at a polling place if a central
8
counting location is designated for the counting of ballots at that polling place by
9
the municipality
.
AB617,6
10
Section
6
.
5.85 (5) of the statutes is repealed.
AB617,7
11
Section
7
.
5.86 of the statutes is repealed.
AB617,8
12
Section
8
.
5.87 (1) of the statutes is amended to read:
AB617,5,21
13
5.87
(1)

If a central counting location is not utilized, the

The
procedure for
14
tabulating the votes by the automatic tabulating equipment shall be under the
15
direction of the chief inspector and shall conform to the requirements of the
16
automatic tabulating equipment. If any ballot is not accepted by the automatic
17
tabulating equipment, the election officials shall make a duplicate ballot to replace
18
that ballot in the manner prescribed in s. 5.85 (3). All proceedings at the polling
19
place
and at any central counting location
shall be open to the public, but no person,
20
except those employed and authorized for the purpose, may touch any ballot,
21
container, envelope, return
,
or equipment.
AB617,9
22
Section
9
.
5.91 (17) of the statutes is amended to read:
AB617,6,4
23
5.91
(17)

Unless the ballot is counted at a central counting location, it

It

1
includes a mechanism for notifying an elector who attempts to cast an excess
2
number of votes for a single office that his or her votes for that office will not be
3
counted, and provides the elector with an opportunity to correct his or her ballot or
4
to receive and cast a replacement ballot.
AB617,10
5
Section

10
.
6.18 (form) of the statutes is amended to read:
AB617,6,10
6
6.18
(form) This form shall be returned to the municipal clerk’s office.
7
Application must be received
in sufficient time for ballots to be mailed and returned
8
prior to any

no later than 5 p.m. on the 7th day immediately preceding the

9
presidential election at which applicant wishes to vote. Complete all statements in
10
full.
AB617,6,11
11
APPLICATION FOR PRESIDENTIAL
AB617,6,12
12
ELECTOR’S ABSENTEE BALLOT
AB617,6,13
13
(To be voted at the Presidential Election
AB617,6,14
14
on November ...., .... (year)
AB617,6,23
15
I, .... hereby swear or affirm that I am a citizen of the United States, formerly
16
residing at .... in the .... ward .... aldermanic district (city, town, village) of ....,
17
County of .... for 28 consecutive days prior to leaving the State of Wisconsin. I, .... do
18
solemnly swear or affirm that I do not qualify to register or vote under the laws of
19
the State of ....(State you now reside in) where I am presently residing. A citizen
20
must be a resident of: State ....(Insert time) County ....(Insert time) City, Town or
21
Village ....(Insert time), in order to be eligible to register or vote therein. I further
22
swear or affirm that my legal residence was established in the State of ....(the State
23
where you now reside) on .... Month .... Day .... Year.
AB617,6,24
24
Signed ....

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