Statement from Common Cause Wisconsin to the Joint Committee on Finance regarding the 2025-2027 Biennium State Budget
TO: Members of the Joint Committee on Finance
FROM: Jay Heck, Executive Director of Common Cause in Wisconsin
DATE: April 24, 2025
RE: Common Cause Wisconsin on 2025-27 Biennium State Budget
Chairs Born, Marklein and Members of the Committee,
Common Cause in Wisconsin (CC/WI) - the state’s largest non-partisan citizen’s political reform advocacy organization with more than 9,000 members and activists in every county and corner in Wisconsin - is pleased to be able to share our thoughts with the members of the Joint Committee on Finance as you consider items for inclusion in the 2025-27 biennium budget.
Wisconsinites from across the ideological spectrum agree that our election processes need to be continually improved and strengthened in order to ensure that all eligible Wisconsinites will be able to participate in and have full confidence in our state’s long tradition of free and fair elections. The state agency that oversees elections, the Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC), as well as county and local election officials, deserve sufficient financial support from the state to continue to carry out critically important election functions and tasks.
On February 18th, Gov. Tony Evers released his 2025-27 biennium budget proposal which reflects modest and sensible requests for much needed funding for election related items. These budget items include such areas as technology updates to our election systems with enhanced security measures, properly compensating election officials and staff including the hard-working citizens who step up as poll workers, replacing outdated election equipment, providing accessible accommodations for voters with special needs, and strengthening WEC’s ability to educate and provide full services to the voting public. In order for WEC to be able to function the way the Wisconsin Legislature intended, and in the manner voters of Wisconsin have every right to expect, additional financial resources are necessary to address these needs in order for public confidence in our elections to be elevated. Successful, accurate, and secure elections can occur only with sufficient funding to get the job done.
To that end, CC/WI strongly supports these specific proposals in Gov. Evers’ budget which ought to and should receive bipartisan support:
Office of Election Transparency and Compliance: the addition of 10 WEC positions to meet the exponentially increased public demand for information and the vastly increased number of inquiries to WEC about election-related issues.
Funding for Information Technology: to update existing information systems and training to keep them current.
Support for Ongoing Programs and Other Commission Costs: to maintain existing capacity to provide voter services.
Grant Programs for Local Election Offices: modest support to better enable local election clerks to serve their voters, including to purchase electronic poll books.
Funding for Special Elections: to shift the burden of election administration costs from counties and municipalities to the state which calls for a special election that is within these counties and municipalities.
Automatic Voter Registration (AVR): Modest funding to enable the WEC to work with the Wisconsin Department of Transportation to initiate automatic voter registration of all eligible electors at DMV sites. About half the states in the nation have adopted AVR with bipartisan support including our neighbors Michigan, Minnesota and Illinois.
The Governor's budget proposals align with what has been proposed and requested with strong bipartisan support from the WEC Commissioners with both Republican and Democratic appointments advocating for many of these improvements to our state’s election administration. It is worth remembering and reminding Wisconsinites that in 2015, the WEC was created by Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, then Republican State Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald and then Republican Governor Scott Walker. WEC's establishment received the votes of every Republican state legislator in both chambers in 2015 and WEC's recommendations, together with those of Gov. Evers ought to be supported now.
The unfounded and specious claims of a small but vocal group of election deniers and conspiracy theorists who oppose these sensible policy enhancements should not be outweighed by the needs and demands of the overwhelming majority of Wisconsin voters seeking the maintenance and strengthening of public confidence in our elections. Do not allow the loud noise and false claims of a vocal few to thwart the will of the vast majority of voters who are far more deserving of your support and vote.
Additionally, in April 2024, the Wisconsin Legislature saw to it that outside private funding for election administration was banned. Now, the legislature has an opportunity and the duty to help fill the gap created by that measure and provide the state funding necessary to administer elections that are truly and fairly conducted with genuine integrity and without partisan advantage in Wisconsin.
We believe that all of these measures will help every voter in Wisconsin and that they merit the support of the members of this committee and of all legislators, regardless of political party affiliation. Our democracy and representative state government can exist only if our election system is free, fair and accessible to all Wisconsinites who are eligible to vote. We hope that the Joint Committee on Finance and the Wisconsin Legislature can set partisan differences aside and work with Gov. Evers to embrace and implement these improvements to our election system in Wisconsin.
Thank you for your consideration.
608/512-9363 (cell)
152 Johnson St, Suite 212
Madison, WI 53703
www.commoncausewisconsin.org
