There could be a scramble ahead of
2026 elections in Wisconsin
after a Waukesha County
Circuit Court ruling that directs
the Wisconsin Elections Commission
to verify whether people
registered to vote are U.S.
Citizens.
Republican-appointed Commissioner
Don Millis is here with reaction,
and thanks very much for being here.
So the judges' ruling requires
election officials to verify
citizenship by matching voter
registrations to state DOT
files with a spring primary coming
up in February.
How reasonable is that timeline?
Well, I think it's gonna be a
challenge if that's the way the
order sticks. We know that there's
going to be another hearing on
October 31st, and it's
always possible that there could be
modifications.
Certainly the commission does have a
role in making sure that
people who are on the list are
eligible to vote.
And we work with local clerks,
1,850 local clerics to make sure
that happens.
So we will see what the order ends
up being and we will do our best to
comply. At least that's how I think
we should be acting.
So you do think it's reasonable to
prevent non-citizens from
being on the voter rolls or to
remove them.
Well, the commission has a role in
doing that. A year ago, there was
a concern about a couple of
Department of Transportation types
of licenses that were handed or
provided to visa holders and
green card holders.
There was a concerned that those
identification cards would be used
for registration and
or voting.
And so we issued a
directive to all the clerks in the
state to be on the lookout for those
to see if someone presents that,
indicate that that's a.
Like great likelihood that that
person is not a citizen, not
impossible, they could be a citizen
and we provided instructions on how
to deal with it.
So we've taken that on that
task before and I think we'll take
it on again it just depends on the
degree and how
widespread we're required to.
As to that issue of
non-citizens holding IDs,
state IDs that otherwise
could be used as part of the voter
ID law to vote,
your commission told us when we did
some reporting on this that
there were only three non-citizens
that have been referred for
prosecution since 2019
in that way.
Is this a solution in search
of a problem then?
I don't doubt that the
issue of non-citizens voting is
a very minor one, it doesn't happen
very often, but part of our
role is to make sure that there's
confidence in the elections.
I know I've told you in the past
that, you know, despite the fact
that we have some of the best
technology available, we can
assure that our elections are
fair and the results are
valid, but these
things come up, and part of my role
is still confidence.
We have in the past.
Like last year, when we sent that
circular out, we were concerned
that there was a perception that
there's gonna be widespread
use of those IDs,
regardless of whether there was
widespread use, it was important
that we instill confidence.
Back in 2022,
there were a couple of examples of
improper requests for absentee
ballots.
Now those were handled properly,
those ballots were never issued,
but because of the public
perception, we acted and we took
steps to...
Make sure that if that
happened on a widespread basis,
there'd be a way of making sure that
those ballots wouldn't be issued or
that people, if they were issued,
there'd a way to remedy that.
Again, just because something
in fact doesn't happen
on a wide spread basis, doesn't mean
that it's not important for us to
address the perception to instill
public confidence in the validity of
our elections.
As you mentioned, the Wisconsin
Department of Justice has appealed
this Waukesha County Circuit Court
ruling, and while that's under
consideration, the Waukeesha
judge put on hold his ruling
that local clerks cannot register
new voters without proof of
citizenship. But how would
citizenship be proved?
Right, well, I
didn't have a huge problem with much
of the decision.
That was one aspect
of the discussion. I don't think
it's a good look to tell people you
can't register, especially
if we have an opportunity to later
verify.
I think that it is a
challenge because some
of our identifications that are
provided to citizens are also
provided to non-citizens.
So that is a challenges.
I think it is more incumbent on
the authorities, the Department of
Transportation, the Elections
Commission, working with
local clerks to try to identify
people who might not be citizens or
are in fact not citizens and
take remedial action.
But when you register to vote,
you have to check a box saying that
you are a citizen under penalty of
law. Is that not good
enough then?
I think that for
99.99% of
the registrants, that is good
enough. But there is, again, a
perception that this could happen.
And again, we shouldn't take it
lightly, that it doesn't happen.
We have examples of
double voting. We make referrals
to district attorneys,
because things like that do happen.
It's not widespread.
But it's important to instill
confidence and take action
appropriately.
Alright, we leave it there.
Commissioner Don Millis, thanks very
much.
Thank you. Have a good weekend.
That was excellent
I have a problem my eyes
wandering and I look at these things
and I'm saying I'm looking up like
this and
You were great.
You were fine. It's just like...
I had to just
It didn't look like that.
Well, I have to remember that I use
an iPad.
And so right here is my camera.
Oh, and you're over here.
And
No, I think it looked fine.
It looks just like how you
might talk to somebody in real life
where you're using your hands or
whatever.
Yeah, that was great.
Thank you.
Okay. Well, thank you very much.
Have a good show.
Have a good weekend.