July 2, 2024 – Madison, WI – Last Friday, the Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC) failed to provide timely information to municipal clerks regarding an upcoming price increase for postage on absentee ballot return envelopes. The belated communication, which WEC did not send out until the day after the statutorily required date for mailing absentee ballots, potentially threatens the timely return of absentee ballots across the state.
The e-mail from WEC, which went out the morning after the deadline, admits “an absentee ballot mailed after July 14 without adequate postage may be returned to sender or be held for postage due.”
State Senator Dan Knodl (R-Germantown) issued the following statement:
“The integrity of our electoral process depends on our clerks and voters receiving timely and accurate information. I am deeply troubled that WEC waited until after absentee ballots went out to notify clerks of an upcoming increase in postage rates. This situation would have been avoided if the information had been provided even a day or two earlier. As the Chair of the Shared Revenue, Elections, and Consumer Protection Committee in the Senate, I will be pressing for answers from WEC.”
Federal Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA) laws and state statutes mandate that absentee ballots for elections go out by specific deadlines to ensure voters have adequate time to return their ballots.
