 Madison, WI – State Representative Ty Bodden (R-Stockbridge) has introduced two election-related bills. The first bill abolishes the Wisconsin Election Commission and gives election administration responsibilities to the Secretary of State.
This bill is co-sponsored by Senator Dan Knodl and nine other freshman assembly representatives, including Representatives Gustafson, Goeben, Rettinger, Binsfeld, Maxey, Hurd, Michalski, Schmidt, and S. Johnson.
The second bill proposes a constitutional amendment to prohibit ranked choice voting in Wisconsin, with State Senator Duey Stroebel (R-Saukville), and Representatives Green and Goeben, serving as lead authors.
Rep. Bodden issued the following statement regarding the WEC abolition bill:
“I am beyond thankful for Senator Knodl’s leadership on this bill, and a huge thank you to my fellow freshman legislators who signed on to help lead on this issue. The Wisconsin Elections Commission and its makeup has been a disaster for the State of Wisconsin.
“The Government Accountability Board was a failed agency and WEC was another failed experiment that replaced it. Let’s not try to reinvent the wheel, but rather give the responsibilities back to the Secretary of State, the position that administers elections in 38 other states.
“Our county clerks around the state, Republicans and Democrats, know how to administer elections. Right now, our brilliant county clerks are not able to be WEC administrators under current law due to a provision that prohibits individuals who have held partisan office. This gives our clerks a chance to run for the position, where qualifications are made public, and the voters can decide who is most qualified to run our elections.
“This is common sense. We need to put the voters in charge and let the Legislature do its job to be a check on our Secretary of State, just like we do with our Governor.”
Rep. Bodden issued the following statement regarding the proposed constitutional amendment to ban ranked-choice voting:
“With the threat of ranked-choice voting in Wisconsin, action is needed to prevent it. Final five and ranked-choice voting have proven disastrous for elections nationwide, causing prolonged result announcements when trust in election outcomes is already fragile. We must receive election results on election night, not weeks later.
“Ranked choice voting is confusing, leading to numerous discarded ballots. In various instances across the country, it resulted in thousands of trashed ballots and counting errors, eroding the fundamental principle of one person, one vote.
“Given Wisconsin’s past issues with the central count process in Milwaukee County, implementing ranked-choice voting statewide is impractical. This proposed constitutional amendment aims to safeguard Wisconsin from such disaster.
“Thank you to Senator Stroebel, Representative Green, and Representative Goeben for their help in introducing this constitutional amendment.”
