County clerk agrees with most of Gov. Walker’s new voting laws

Eliminating registration deputies was not one of them

A mix of good and not so good in a new election law in Wisconsin.  

Mostly good, says La Crosse County clerk Ginny Dankmeyer about the measures signed into law by Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker this week that, among other things, mandates that absentee ballots be turned in by the time polls close on election day.  

Dankmeyer really appreciates that one.

“When you do these late arriving absentees, very few come back that actually are counted,” she said. “And when you delay the process of certifying this election, it just draws out the process and makes it difficult to get the ballots ready for the next election.

“I know last year, in the April election, we couldn’t swear in a couple county board supervisors because we were still waiting for the election to certify as it was going into recount. It was a week into the term before we could swear someone into office.

 

The law goes into effect over time. The absentee ballot part goes into effect for the fall election this year. Those ballots will have to be in by the end of voting on election day in order to be counted – a welcome change from how it is now with final election results not confirmed until absentee ballots arrive days later. 

“It did become problematic in some situations when you hold it open an extra week waiting for those late arriving to come,” Dankmeyer said.

 

Online registration goes into place by next spring. For the upcoming election, veterans will be able to use their VA benefits card as a photo ID to vote.

One of the down sides of the law is the end of special registration deputies beginning next spring.

“Special registration deputies wasn’t necessarily a bad thing,” Dankmeyer said. “They got out, they got people registered to vote ahead of time. That kind of alleviates election day registration.”

She hopes heavy online registration will eliminate some of the same day registration traffic at the polls.