You
A week ago, the Wisconsin Supreme Court reversed a near total ban on the use of absentee ballot
drop boxes enacted in 2022 after conspiracy claims of election fraud. The High Court ruling
allowing absentee ballot drop boxes prompted an emergency meeting of the Wisconsin Elections
Commission to carefully craft guidance for the 1,800 election clerks across the state
who may now start using them again, starting with the August 13th primary. Elections Commission
administrator Megan Wolf meets out the commissioner's guidance. She joins us now and thanks very
much for being here. Thanks for having me. So how does the new guidance for clerks on the use of
the boxes differ from guidance given by the Commission for the 2020 election? Yeah, that's a great
question. In 2020, the commission didn't issue guidance, you know, that was very specific because
clerks had been using drop boxes for decades. It was a local decision where they had been
choosing, you know, whether or not it was right for their community for a long time. This guidance
by the commission, I think is different in that it does lay out some more specific information,
especially as it relates to security practices. So the commission today in their meeting, they
had a public meeting where the six commissioners unanimously voted to adopt this guidance and it
includes a pretty robust section on security best practices. And I think the commission's desire
today was to make sure that jurisdictions across the state, whether it's a large city or a small
town, have security best practices that they can analyze and utilize no matter what the size of
their jurisdiction and really try to get consistency in terms of election drop box security. So what
are some examples of specific security around these boxes? So there is some federal best practice
guidance, which has been shared with the clerks as part of the commission's guidance. But the
commission also went through line by line all six commissioners in a bipartisan fashion and they
included items such as making sure that a drop box is securely affixed to the ground or the side
of a building, making sure that drop boxes are secured against unlawful access or emptying.
Things like analyzing to make sure a drop box has a slot that's appropriately sized so that only
an absentee ballot can be deposited and not other objects. And so many of the things are pretty
common sense, but it gives the local election officials a checklist that they can go through
and use when they're analyzing their drop box security for their jurisdiction.
Of course, we know that the use of these boxes exploded during pandemic voting with more than
40% of all votes cast that year through absentee ballot. Did that result in election tipping fraud
is alleged by Donald Trump and his supporters? So there certainly has been analysis that's been
done about the 2020 election and the security and lawful nature of that election. And there has
not been any widespread fraud shown to be, you know, a reality in that election. And so I think
that, you know, we didn't see those types of unlawful practices in the 2020 election.
And certainly we don't expect to see those things in the 2024 election, but things like this
bipartisan guidance from the commission today will help to build on what are already very
secure elections with integrity here in the state of Wisconsin. As we sit here, you personally
are under heightened security protection, having been targeted by these conspiracist groups for
what they call allowing illegal drop boxes then. With this latest ruling, allowing drop box use,
have those threats again ramped up or do fear they might?
I haven't seen anything additional in the last few weeks, but you know, I do remain
vigilant in terms of combating that misinformation. There was a lot of misinformation after the 2020
election where there were decisions of the commission attributed to me wrongfully. You know, I am not a
commissioner. I don't have a vote on the commission. When the commission meets, they meet in a public
meeting and they have these discussions to sort out what guidance they're going to provide to clerks.
My role is to simply implement their directives like we did today. The commission met in a public
meeting and they went line by line through this communication and unanimously decided to issue it.
And so, you know, my goal here is really just to continue to show people the process of how
decisions are made here in the state of Wisconsin pertaining to our elections and in hope that,
you know, people are more, I have a better understanding of how things are done and are
willing to engage with the process, watch our meetings, and see how the decisions are actually
made. So, 1800 election clerks, as we've said across Wisconsin, have received the new guidance
on the use of the absentee ballot drop boxes. What kinds of calls and questions are you getting
from clerks as they gear into the August primary and the November general election?
I think for many clerks, this information especially about what constitutes a secure drop box or at
least practices that they could should consider is really front of mind to them. You know, they
want to make sure that they're offering opportunities to return ballots to their community that are
both convenient, accessible, and are secure, are safe, that give people confidence that this is
something that the clerks and the local election officials take very seriously in terms of making
sure that it's a safe way to return your ballot. And so, that's really the majority of the questions.
I think many of our clerks will be happy to see this guidance today in that the commission did
very thoughtfully provide a lot of good best practices and considerations.
Meanwhile, at the polling places proper, there's an expectation of heightened election observer
activity. Well, with one group stating that they plan to aggressively challenge perceived
ballot fraud, what are clerks prepared for with election observers, especially after two of them
had to be removed from a Glendale polling place just last week during a special election?
So the commission, meaning again, the sixth member of bipartisan commission,
has also made tremendous progress this year in new observer rules.
So there is a new emergency observer administrative rule that is now available.
And the commission undertook over a year's long process where they actually had an advisory
committee that was made up of clerks, of observers, and of other groups that are involved in elections
that really represented the full spectrum of Wisconsin politics. And they all came together
and had multiple meetings to talk through some of the questions and concerns that arise as part
of the observer process. And so I believe that that guidance, again, it's unanimous guidance that
what our administrative rule that was, you know, passed by the commission is really going to be
helpful to be able to give the poll workers and the observers themselves a better understanding
of what their rights are in the polling place. Observers are such an important part of a healthy
election day, being able to observe the process in this new observer rule really helps observers
understand their rights in terms of what they're able to see. And the poll workers understand,
you know, what constitutes sort of orderly conduct of the polling place. And when they're able to
step in, when we do have those rare instances where there are disturbances.
All right, Megan Wolf. Thanks very much.
Thank you.
You hear me? Still? Hi. I have a question for you before you leave.
Yeah. That was great, by the way. Thank you.
Thank you. As you as you may know, Zach Schultz has been trying to see if he could
make an appointment with you to do an interview in your office. And I just wanted to put that
back on your radar. He's still interested. Okay.
I've been working with him and we just were trying to juggle a few different
interviews right now. But I will make sure to get back to him.
All right, Riley. I appreciate it. Yeah, we get that you're kind of busy right now. So
thank you. Thank you very much. And thank you for making yourself available today as well.
Absolutely. Thank you. It was nice talking to you. You too.