Gov. Tony Evers recently vetoed six voting bills that conservatives wanted passed. | Facebook
Gov. Tony Evers recently vetoed six voting bills that conservatives wanted passed. | Facebook
Democratic Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers recently vetoed six election integrity bills that had been passed by the state legislature.
In a press release, the Election Transparency Initiative (ETI) denounced Evers for vetoing a group of bills that would have strengthened the integrity of the state’s election process.
“We are grateful to the lawmakers who championed this bill on its way to the governor’s desk. Evers could have put politics aside to ensure free and fair elections where it is easy to vote and hard to cheat, but he doubled down on a system where it is easy to cheat and hard to prove,” said National Chairman of the ETI and former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli.
Evers said the tactic was a ploy that was being enacted by Republican governors and legislators throughout the country in an effort to discredit the 2020 election, along with making it more difficult to vote.
“They’re trying to stack the deck so they get the results they want next time, and they’re trying to make it harder for every eligible person to cast their ballot,” he said.
The ETI stated that the proposed bills would have involved ID requirements for absentee ballots, along with prohibiting the automatic distribution of mail-in ballots, clarified the absentee process, prevented private, third-party funding of elections, allowed voters to confirm their ballot was counted and to correct mistakes and given poll watchers protection.
The governor's vetoes were widely criticized by Republican lawmakers, however Evers said in his veto of SB 203, which would have added to the process on how municipalities conduct elections that the measure was aimed at restricting voting rights.
“One can easily imagine the ways that the measures proposed in this bill would result in voters being deprived of their fundamental right to vote. The right to vote is the cornerstone of our democracy and to restrict that right is undemocratic,” Evers said.
Moderate Wisconsin voters have strong support for election integrity measures, according to a recent poll.
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