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the same place and ride
together to work. At the

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Capitol. A new slate of
legislative proposals would

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speed up the return of
election results by

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allowing the counting of
absentee ballots the Monday

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before polls open and make.
A Siegler changes,

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including security for
absentee ballot boxes. The

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Republican author of the
bills is looking to work

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across the aisle on the
measures. But even those

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Democrats agreeing to a
bipartisan process don't

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yet support the proposals.
So where do any of these

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election rules stand? We
asked the Assembly

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Assistant Majority leader
and Vice chair of the

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Assembly Committee on
Campaigns and Elections,

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Representative Scott Krug.
I spoke with him earlier.

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Representative Krug, thanks
very much for being here.

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>> It's great to be here.
allowing an early count of

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absentee ballots on the
Monday before a Tuesday

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election?
>> Yeah, we just know from

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the last few cycles that
Milwaukee has been the the

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later reporter amongst the
election results in the

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state of Wisconsin. It's
led to conspiracies that

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there is late night ballot
dumps and all kinds of

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conjecture that's built
from that and exploded over

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the years every time we
have a statewide election.

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So the answer is to do what
43 other states do, and to

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figure out a way that we
can get the ballots counted

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and people can go to bed
knowing who won the

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election on Election day.
>> What kind of support do

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you have for that?
>> You know, the state

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Assembly voice voted last
session. This session,

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we've got to figure out a
way to get it through the

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state Senate. So we've got
to do it a little bit

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differently than we did
components of the absentee

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processing on Monday are
the same as they were last

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session. But now it's
combined with a few

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different ideas. So we've
got to build some support

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in the state Senate to get
there.

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to do with new security
rules for ballot drop boxes.

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>> Yeah.
>> What do those look like?

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>> So what we did is we
worked with some groups to

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do some polling to see what
the most important issues

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in elections were. And the
two things that people

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talked about the most were
knowing who won the

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election before they go to
bed and making sure drop

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boxes are safe and secure.
So this bill combines those

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two ideas and says all the
guidance from the federal

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government on drop boxes,
all the guidance from the

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for size, standards,
locations, dates and times

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of uses. And we're going to
do what other states do and

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video record the use of
drop boxes in the state of

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Wisconsin.
>> So when President Trump

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says he wants to ban mail
in voting and go back to

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hand-counting ballots, you
said in an article I read,

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quote, we put out the fire.
He stokes it. What do you

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mean by that?
>> Yeah, there's a

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competition, right? Is
every time we get to an

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answer on what Wisconsin
election should look like,

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and under the Constitution,
we have the right as a

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state to decide what our
elections look like. So our

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bill package does talk
about a lot of the things

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that President Trump has
brought up about security,

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knowing who the person is,
who's voting, things like

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that. But we also want to
know, like I've said a few

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times, that we want to know
who won the election on

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Election day, going back to
hand counting or not using

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machines delays that into
perpetuity. So just trying

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to set aside the conjecture
that the machines are the

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problem or that we're
having late night ballot

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dumps. We can still do
absentee voting by mail in

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Wisconsin and get the job
done on Election Day.

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>> Now you're looking for
bipartisan agreement on

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these bills and held a news
conference this week with a

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Democratic lawmaker. Here's
what she had to say.

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>> I do not endorse any of
his bills and his package,

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and I don't support the
current draft of Monday

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processing or absentee
ballot guidelines. But

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setting that aside, today,
we are meeting the moment

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our country and our state
has never been more divided

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and more contentious. The
partisan divide has become

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not just contentious, but
even hostile. Rep Krug and

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I will continue to model
that civil conversations

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and debate can happen in
the same room, from the

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same podium, and with the
same goal in mind, in spite

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of diverging ideas. And as
I have told him, I look

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forward to this spirited
debate in a future

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committee hearing.
>> So this is this is super

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interesting that
Representative Snodgrass

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endorse your proposals, but
she stands beside you. What

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is this about?
>> We have struck up this

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relationship on elections
the last three years, ever

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since I took the committee
that each other at least

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know what the others are
doing, that we don't want

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to surprise each other
first and foremost. That

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second, we talk about
concepts before they come

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to committee so we can have
an idea of what we're

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trying to have an exchange
of ideas on. And third,

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that we sit in that room in
front of the public and

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hash out our differences
when it comes to what we

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think is the most important
issue in Wisconsin, it was

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just elections. We know
that the building is seen

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as you know, elections are
a proxy for almost

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everything that we do. If
we don't have safe, secure

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elections and trust in our
system, people aren't going

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to trust anything else we
do in the Capitol. So this

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relationship is built just
on the idea that we want to

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make sure we each know what
we're doing.

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Democrats, as you know, who
decry your efforts, saying

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the bills add in partizan
poison pills that come from

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the, quote, extreme flank
of the Republican caucus.

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Referencing things like
rules around election

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observers. What's your
response to that?

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as the extreme flank of my
party, I don't know how to

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tell them, you know, who
might actually be. But

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these are things that we've
talked about in committee

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the last three years,
whether it's ballot curing,

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whether it's drop boxes,
whether it's Monday

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processing. There's nothing
new in any of these in any

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of this project that we're
working on. It's just the

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way that they're combined.
I think that makes them not

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understand exactly what
we're trying to accomplish.

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>> Have you worked with
Governor Evers on any of

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this? Do you expect him to
sign this into law should

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they pass?
>> You know, and that's

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what I told the legislative
Democrats, is that, you

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know, to be bipartisan,
they don't necessarily need

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them all to agree. I need
the governor to agree.

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Right. And we're in this
place now where I think the

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governor recognizes he
wants to get some more

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things done. And like I
said, I think the most

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important area that he
could find some bipartisan

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support and build a legacy
is securing our elections

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and building trust for
everybody in the state of

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Wisconsin. So, yeah, we are,
you know, engaged in

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conversations with the
sure they understand

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exactly what we're trying
to accomplish and how, for

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these bills all working
together can expand access,

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ensure results, and make
ensure results, and make