Voting Reform Killed in Wisconsin?

In what may likely be the final week of legislative session for the year in Wisconsin, the Republican majority just sent a compromise bill to provide meaningful election reform in Wisconsin to die in committee.

Authored by the non-partisan Legislative Council and negotiated between both political parties and the Governor, this bill provides real reform in a number of areas including providing more penalties for election fraud, making it easier for members of the military to be able to vote and making it harder for felons to illegally vote.

The bill passed the State Senate by a vote of 33-0. The Republican leadership in the State Assembly “special ordered” the bill for today, in order to make sure the bill is voted on.

Suddenly, someone over there must have decided to kill election reform…or at least kill it with poison pill amendments down the road.

The Wisconsin legislature has done nothing meaningful to enact electoral reform, campaign finance reform or ethics reform this session. Today, by sending the bill back to committee on the likely final real day of session, it dies in its bipartisan form.

Score one more job not done by the continually dysfunctional Wisconsin legislature.