election

The Wisconsin Senate has approved Republican-backed bills that would create new hurdles for the elderly and disabled to cast absentee ballots, limit the number and location of ballot drop boxes and impose new penalties for violating election law.

Gov. Tony Evers made it official over the weekend at the virtual state Democratic convention, he is running for a second term in November of next year. Several Republicans have indicated they’d like to challenge Evers next year, but none more so than former Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch.

Evers says he decided to run again because he has unfinished business and needs to remain able to stop Republicans through his veto powers.

"It's an audit in name only," says one former election security official. "It's a threat to the overall confidence of democracy, all in pursuit of continuing a narrative that we know to be a lie."

Republican Sen. Ron Johnson on Thursday said he remains undecided about seeking a third term in 2022, stopped short of recommending people be vaccinated for the COVID-19 virus and refused to blame former President Donald Trump for the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos is joining Republicans across the country in their continued push for repeated examinations of ballots from the November 2020 election.

A search of online court records shows no charges have yet been filed against any of the 27 people.

Wisconsin voters with disabilities urged lawmakers on Wednesday to reconsider two Republican-backed bills passed by the state Senate that would make it more difficult to cast absentee ballots as part of the broader GOP push to make it harder to vote by mail following Donald Trump's defeat.

In this week’s Capitol Notes, JR Ross of wispolitics.com tells Marti Mikkelson that it’s important for the president and vice president to keep the state on their radar.

Wisconsin Treasurer Sarah Godlewski has joined the growing ranks of Democrats running for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Republican Sen. Ron Johnson, who has yet to say whether he will seek a third term.