Important legislation has been introduced in the Wisconsin Legislature to abolish the Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC). It is imperative that legislators enact these bills and ensure full election integrity.
Assembly Bill 899 (AB 899) is sponsored by Representative Ty Bodden (R-Hilbert), 13 other representatives, and one senator, while Senate Bill 834 (SB 834) is sponsored by Senator Dan Knodl (R-Germantown) and 14 representatives.
If enacted, AB 899 and SB 834 would abolish WEC and move responsibility over elections back to the secretary of state. By abolishing an unaccountable, unelected bureaucratic agency, these bills would be a major step toward strengthening self-government and restoring a proper separation of powers.
When announcing AB 899’s introduction, Rep. Bodden stated:
The Wisconsin Elections Commission and its makeup has been a disaster for the State of Wisconsin. The Government Accountability Board was a failed agency and WEC was another failed experiment that replaced it. Let’s not try to reinvent the wheel, but rather give the responsibilities back to the Secretary of State, the position that administers elections in 38 other states. … This is common sense. We need to put the voters in charge and let the Legislature do its job to be a check on our Secretary of State, just like we do with our Governor.
WEC has repeatedly failed to ensure that Wisconsin elections are held to the highest standard. This serves to reduce voters’ trust in elections while increasing bureaucracy. It is long past time to abolish WEC.
Furthermore, AB 899 and SB 834 are consistent with The John Birch Society’s election-integrity recommendations. It is imperative that state legislators enact these reforms and reject all attempts to water down or block them.
Contact your state representative and senator, and urge them to support AB 899 and SB 834 to abolish the WEC, and to enact other strong measures that strengthen election integrity in Wisconsin.
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