WEC Newsletter
Volume III, Issue XVI
September 21, 2023
Photo by NASA/Joel Kowsky.
Happy Equinox!
Fall is officially just around the corner. What better time is there to get cozy around a fiery object and peruse the Election Administration Manual, watch a webinar, or read the latest WEC Newsletter?!
A Quick Word from Administrator Meagan Wolfe
Hello, Wisconsin clerks!
It’s Meagan Wolfe here, administrator of the Wisconsin Elections Commission.
In the wake of all the news about my role in the past few weeks, I wanted to check in directly and let you all know that, yes, I still am on the job as the nonpartisan WEC administrator. As you have likely seen in media reports, the state Senate last week voted to reject me as administrator and instructed the Commission to name an interim administrator.
However, Attorney General Josh Kaul stated that the vote was not proper or binding since no nomination had been forwarded to the Senate from the Commission. Further, the nonpartisan attorneys for the Wisconsin Legislative Council have said that an appointment of a WEC administrator requires four votes of the Commission. As such, the state Attorney General’s office filed a lawsuit immediately after the vote to affirm the Senate’s action had no legal effect. I am hopeful that this court decision will quickly provide clarity regarding my appointment. I will, of course, abide by whatever decision the court renders.
In the meantime, I remain on the job and, like the rest of our WEC staff, am fully focused on supporting all of you as you prepare for the 2024 election cycle, which is right around the corner. We will do our best to keep everyone updated as the court case – which will ultimately decide the status of my role here – moves along.
For now, best wishes and good luck as you prepare for 2024!
Ramp up the access on Election Day!
Improve your polling place's accessibility with our new Polling Place Accessibility Toolkit
Polling places should be organized in such a way that all voters can engage efficiently with the process and voters with disabilities can navigate the voting area and participate without assistance. Polling places must also have the appropriate signage and election notices that are made available to all municipalities.
To aid clerks in ensuring their polling places are as accessible as possible, we created the Polling Place Accessibility Toolkit, updating and compiling several other resources. It provides an overview of the accessibility standards that every polling place must meet, alerts clerks to the availability of free accessibility items, and lists easy-to-complete tasks that allow all voters to easily enter their polling place and cast their ballot privately and independently.
Quick Fixes & Free Gear
Staff revisited existing guides like the Polling Place Set-Up Guide and Polling Place Accessibility Quick Fix Guide and added more images and examples. The Election Day Accessibility Checklist is a bird's-eye-view summary of steps municipalities can take to ensure safe, unobstructed access to polling places.
Clerks can use the toolkit to request multiple free items, including signage for voters with disabilities. The Accessibility Supplies Order Form (EL-502) now includes kits that group supplies needed to implement a quick fix or best practice. The order form also refers clerks to the Quick Fix Guide for further instructions.
The kits
- Temporary Standard Accessible Parking Space Kit
- Temporary Van Accessible Parking Space Kit
- Accessible Entrance Kit
Help us improve!
The Accessibility Supply Program provides products that improve polling place accessibility to municipalities free of charge. In preparation for 2024 the WEC staff is asking clerks to complete the linked survey to let us know where we can make improvements in the future and how to stock the program for the presidential election cycle.
Further reading
Badger Book Training Schedule is Set!
The Badger Book training team will be traveling throughout the state in October and November.
If you intend to use Badger Books in 2024, you must purchase them by January 31.
Three different trainings will be offered at each location:
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Introduction to Badger Books: REQUIRED before using Badger Books for the first time. For chief inspectors and municipal clerks who are new and/or will buy before January 31, or county clerks who want to support their Badger Book municipalities on Election Day.
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Refresher: Advanced troubleshooting for clerks who have used their machines for at least one election.
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Train the Trainer: For municipal clerks who have used Badger Books for at least one complete election cycle to become Badger Book certified trainers.
Schedule
All classes will be held at the same time at each location. Train-the-Trainer will be offered only if there is enough interest. The time will be determined with the interested parties.
Intro to Badger Books: 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
Refresher: 2-3 p.m.
- October 11:
Madison - October 24:
Baraboo - October 25:
Racine - October 27:
Waukesha - October 30:
Fort Atkinson - November 1:
Dodgeville November 2:
Tomah- November 3:
West Bend - November 6: Menomonie
- November 7:
Wausau - November 8:
Rhinelander - November 9:
Green Bay - November 10:
Oshkosh
To RSVP: Email [email protected]. Include the date, location, and session you wish to attend and the number of people you will have attending.
▼ Reminder ▼
These are the only trainings we will be offering for new users until late 2024.
New Training Webinar Series Announced!
Offering a wide array of topics online. Bonus, the training time counts toward state requirements.
The new election administration webinar series is scheduled to begin later this month and continue through the 2024 Spring Election cycle. Election administration webinars are focused on providing all types of election workers with information about their duties before, during, and after an election. The list of webinars with descriptions and registration info is posted to the WEC website calendar and the EA Webinar Series tile on The Learning Center (TLC).
The current training term ends December 31, 2023 and clerks and chief inspectors need six hours of training since January 1, 2022 to remain certified to conduct elections in 2024-2025. Webinars - viewed live or as recordings - are each one hour, running live at 10-11 a.m. and count towards the training requirement.
We hope you enjoy this series and find the topics useful for yourself and your election workers. Please send any questions or comments you have to us at @email.
- New Clerks Class: September 27, 2023
- New Absentee Certificate Envelope: October 11, 2023
- Appointing Election Officials for the 2024-2025 Term: October 25, 2023
- What to Expect in a Polling Place Review: November 1, 2023
- Back to Basics: The Photo ID Law: January 10, 2024
- UOCAVA & You: Preparing, Sending, & Recording Military & Overseas Ballots: January 24, 2024
- Contingency Planning: January 31, 2024
- Preparing for the 2024 April and Presidential Preference Election: February 28, 2024
- Spring Elections Wrap-Up: May 1, 2024
Absentee Envelope Subgrant
As a reminder, the Elections Commission unanimously determined that the old envelope designs do not conform with guidance from a recent court order and do not fully comply with all statutory requirements. Therefore, the old EL-120 and EL-122 shall not be used.
To help local governments offset the cost of buying new envelopes, the Commission issued a Subgrant for Absentee Ballot Envelope Reimbursement. This subgrant may only be used to purchase absentee ballot envelopes.
Act Soon!
The deadline for this grant is June 30, 2024, so municipalities and counties must request funds before then. This is a one-time-only subgrant. Municipalities and counties may not make multiple requests.
To apply for the subgrant a municipality or county with municipality approval must submit a completed MOU to [email protected]
Further reading
2023 Absentee Ballot Envelope Subgrant Reimbursement Program
Two Virtual Security TTX Events Scheduled For October!
Reserve your spot today!
Thanks to all the clerks who responded to our July 27th survey! We’re excited to announce two virtual security tabletop exercise (TTX) opportunities in October!
We’ll review hypothetical scenarios that clerks could face during an election. By the end, we’ll be better prepared for the unexpected and have an improved security posture heading into 2024.
Please find the dates and times below:
- Friday, October 13: 11 a.m. – noon.
- Friday, October 20: 2 p.m. – 3 p.m.
Commission Update:
Potential election observer rules discussed, with more updates to come from the Advisory Committee
The Wisconsin Elections Commission dealt with several issues important to clerks at its quarterly meeting on September 7, including election observer rules, the ballot timeline for the 2024 Presidential Preference Primary, and an update to the rules on ballot challenges.
On the observer rules, the Commission discussed comments and edits made by the Advisory Committee members at their second meeting, which was in late August. Among the questions being discussed by the Committee and the Commission: how to deal with media and cameras; whether observers should have to show a photo ID and provide their address; whether to announce when a ballot is being remade and why; decisions about the number of observers allowed from one organization, and questions about observers for recounts.
The Commission directed WEC staff to provide an updated draft of the proposed rules at its November 2 quarterly meeting.
In other business, the Commission:
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Voted 6-0 to approve the timeline for sending “A” ballots and “B” ballots to military and overseas voters, due to the conflict in the statuary timeline for the 2024 Presidential Preference Primary and the Spring Primary. A complete list of candidates for the Spring Primary ballot won’t be available by the deadline required to send absentee ballots for the Presidential Preference Primary, so military and overseas voters will first receive an “A” ballot with just the presidential contest on it, and then later a “B” ballot once the full Spring Primary ballot is available.
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Approved sending Statements of Scope to the Department of Administration and Governor regarding administrative rules for the mandatory use of Uniform Instructions, and for an update to the administrative rules for ballot access challenges.
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Voted 6-0 in favor of the Clear Ballot Group’s petition for approval of the ClearVote 2.3 voting system.
Make Sure Voters Can Find You!
Check your staff info on MyVote
Maintaining your contact information and staff list in WisVote is crucial for ensuring that voters can contact your office and that only active election officials have access to this sensitive database. You can easily verify that your municipality's clerk contact information is correct by using MyVote. Click on the "Find My Clerk" link in the footer and enter a local address.
Also, as a matter of routine, please keep the WEC Helpdesk aware of any incoming staff members who need WisVote access, or outgoing staff members whose access should be removed, and the dates to change their access.
Please contact the WEC Helpdesk if you have any questions about your staff's credentials for WisVote.
Side Hustle Opens Door
To County Clerk Career
Located in Richland Center, the town where Frank Lloyd Wright was born, the A.D. German Warehouse is one of Frank Lloyd Wright’s architectural gems. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (1974) and is the only warehouse designed by Wright.
Photo courtesy of the A.D. German Warehouse Conservancy, Inc.
What The Municipal Trenches Taught Richland County Clerk Derek Kalish
Derek Kalish had a full-time job back in 2013 when he was encouraged to take a side hustle and become the clerk of Henrietta Township in Richland County. He did so under the premise “that I would just have to attend one monthly meeting and take a few sets of minutes, and that was it.”
That, of course, as all Wisconsin clerks know well, was a vast understatement of job responsibilities. However, upon experiencing the complexities of the role, Kalish – who has a background in retail, banking, and higher education – found the clerk profession intriguing: “I started doing it, and I thought this is kind of cool. I like this.”
He quickly learned just how important local government is to democracy, particularly in Wisconsin where “we have all these little municipalities, with their own jurisdictions,” Kalish said.
From Henrietta Township he went on to take a couple of positions with county government, including deputy clerk/accounting supervisor. In 2020, Kalish began a short stint as the city of Richland Center clerk/treasurer. Experience at all three clerk levels – township, city, and county – set the stage for 2021 when the former Richland County Clerk retired. Kalish was appointed to fill out the remainder of the term and said he intends to run for the office next year.
His varied background as a clerk at multiple levels has proven invaluable when assisting Richland County’s other clerks. “I know what it is like to be them because I was there, and so I really go out of my way to support them,” Kalish said.
Hub City Bog with portions in Kalish's native Henrietta Township features an unusual tamarack bog island and tall shrub community with pine/hemlock relicts and associated shaded cliffs also present. This uncommon Driftless Area bog was formed in an oxbow lake left by the meandering Pine River. To the east of the bog is Soules Creek which flows at the base of a 75-foot sandstone cliff.
Photo by Joshua Meyer via Creative Commons.
There are 22 municipalities in Richland County, comprised of 16 townships, five villages, and one city. The county population is about 17,300, with approximately 9,600 registered voters.
Kalish holds training sessions with the county’s clerks, including going to their town halls on Saturdays and sometimes welcoming clerks into his own home.
“I know what they are going through, because I did it for years, so I get it, so I feel like that has really helped me, particularly with elections, probably the most important thing,” Kalish said.
“I’ve done exactly what they’re doing,” he said. “I’ve recruited people. I’ve trained people. I’ve set up all these polling places. I’ve worked with the county, so I have seen it from both the municipal and the county clerk end, so it’s been super, super helpful for me to have those experiences.”
After each election, Kalish gathers clerks together for an after-action debriefing. “Say, OK, here’s the things that went bad; here’s what went well; here’s what we need to improve on – just to give them that extra support. I feel like they really appreciate that.” He said the outreach has made for “very good working relationships, and I really try to foster that.”
Kalish acknowledges that he has had an interesting life’s journey. When he left his boyhood home in Richland County, he never thought he would be back. Now Kalish and his husband are quite happy, having set down roots in unincorporated Woodstock, which is in Henrietta Township.
In 2019, Kalish earned an MBA from American Public University, and he’s still putting his 2007 UW-Madison art history degree to good use. As a volunteer for a nonprofit, he is helping lead an ambitious $5 million fundraising effort to restore a Frank Lloyd Wright-designed building in downtown Richland Center.
The A.D. German Warehouse (built between 1917 and 1921) is one of Wright’s largest creations in Wisconsin. The goal now is to transform the empty three-story brick building into an event space, and possibly a home for small businesses, artists, and a museum.
Kalish sees the project as fitting well with his county clerk mission because it could have a major economic impact.
“I think the building’s cool, right. It’s a Frank Lloyd Wright building. It’s important,” he said. But Kalish says it’s also the potential for increasing the tax base and producing revenue that “excites me, and what drives me to continue to be working on the project, because of the benefits we can reap.”
And when Kalish talks about “we” he’s referring to the entire county, all its municipalities. He knows very well how they all interconnect.
“I’m very thankful for those initial years going back to my little township clerk position,” he said. “I learned a ton there, and that’s really transferred over into all these different levels.”
Upcoming Dates & Deadlines
Upcoming Events
- September 27, 2023 – Webinar: ★ New Clerks
- October 11, 2023 – Webinar: Absentee Envelopes
- October 25, 2023 – Webinar: Appointing Election Officials
Upcoming Commission Meetings
- November 2, 2023 – Quarterly Meeting
Upcoming Elections
- February 20, 2024 – Spring Primary (if necessary)
- April 2, 2024 – Spring Election & Presidential Preference Primary
- August 13, 2024 – Primary Election
- November 5, 2024 – General Election
Recent Clerk Communications
- September 8, 2023 – 2023-2024 Election Administration Webinar Series Announced
- August 15, 2023 – EL-362 WisVote Clerk Contact Information Update Form
- August 9, 20234 – Absentee Envelope Designs Approved by Commission
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