Nass demands commission submit drop box, absentee rules

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — One of the leaders of the Legislature’s rules committee demanded Thursday that the Wisconsin Election Commission submit draft regulations to his panel governing absentee ballot drop boxes and corrections to absentee ballot information.

Republican Sen. Steve Nass. the rules committee’s co-chairman, wants the commission to submit draft rules codifying guidance the commission supplied to local election clerks as the COVID-19 pandemic was taking hold in March 2020. That guidance dramatically expanded the use of absentee ballot drop boxes to include mail slots at municipal facilities and book return slots at libraries. It also stated that clerks could set up alternate sites for returning absentee ballots.

Republicans are upset with the guidance because officials in Madison, a Democratic stronghold, used it to justify collecting ballots in city parks ahead of the 2020 presidential election. The GOP argues that the move opened to the door to fraud, however there is no evidence that it did.

An Associated Press review of every potential case of voter fraud in the six battleground states where former President Donald Trump is still disputing results, including Wisconsin, found fewer than 475 cases, a number so low it would have made no difference in the 2020 presidential election. Some of those charged with fraud are registered Republicans or told investigators they were Trump supporters.

Read more: https://spectrumnews1.com/wi/milwaukee/news/2021/12/31/nass-demands-commission-submit-drop-box--absentee-rules