Wisconsin Election Fairness Project

You played by the rules.
Did everyone?

You registered. You showed up. You voted. Your vote should count — equally, fully, and without interference. But when the process is hidden, there's no way to know if it did.

Every vote cast illegally cancels out a vote cast legally — yours. Every vote wrongly rejected silences a voter who did everything right — maybe you. That's not a partisan issue. That's a fairness issue.

Shouldn't

Your vote shouldn't be canceled by someone who didn't follow the rules — whether that means a ballot cast under a false name, cast twice, or cast by someone who isn't eligible. One person. One vote. That's the deal. And it only works if the process is open enough to verify.

Won't

The institutions running Wisconsin's elections won't publish real-time data that makes it possible to catch those problems — or prove they aren't happening. You can't see absentee ballot activity as it occurs. You can't see the ballot images after the count. You're expected to trust a process you're not allowed to watch.

Your vote is canceled when

↗ A ballot is cast illegally in your precinct — and counted

↗ The same person votes twice and both ballots go through

↗ Absentee ballots are issued without a record anyone can check

Your vote is suppressed when

↗ Your legitimate ballot is rejected on a technicality

↗ Long lines or unclear rules make it harder for some voters than others

↗ You're told the process is fine — with no way to verify it yourself

Both are wrong. Both should matter to you — regardless of how you vote.

Four Ways Your Vote Gets Undermined

None of these are accusations. All of them are documented process failures that happen when elections run without public visibility.

Ballot Harvesting

When third parties collect and submit absentee ballots on behalf of voters, there is no guarantee those ballots are delivered — or delivered unchanged. Your ballot leaves your hands, and the chain of custody becomes invisible.

Double Voting

Voting in two jurisdictions — or voting once absentee and once in person — is possible when real-time absentee records aren't publicly visible. If no one can see the running count, no one can catch the duplication as it happens.

Absentee Interception

An absentee ballot requested in your name — without your knowledge — can be filled out and returned by someone else. Without a public, real-time record of requests made and ballots issued, this kind of substitution has no early warning system.

Voting Without Eligibility

When voter rolls aren't regularly verified against current eligibility records, ballots can be cast — and counted — by people who are no longer eligible. Each one directly offsets a ballot cast by someone who is. That someone could be you.

What's Being Proposed — In Plain English

Proposed Change

Absentee Ballot Visibility

Wis. Stat. § 6.86 — Methods for Obtaining an Absentee Ballot

Two new public-posting requirements would apply to absentee voting activity — both anonymized to protect individual privacy:

All absentee ballot requests posted online within 24 hours of receipt by the county clerk — no names, no addresses, just the count and activity
All early in-person absentee ballots cast posted online within 24 hours of being cast or received at a voting site
Builds on existing aggregate posting rules already in § 7.52(1)(c), extending them to real-time absentee activity

What this means for you Instead of waiting until after the election to know how many absentee ballots were requested or returned, the public could see that information as it happens — anonymized, so no one's privacy is at risk.

Proposed Change

Election Night Reporting + Ballot Images

Wis. Stat. § 7.60(1) — County Canvass

Two additions to how counties must post returns on election night:

All returns posted by ward or reporting unit on a county internet site within 2 hours of receiving them
If electronic voting equipment produces digital ballot images, those images must also be posted on the same site within 24 hours of polls closing
Current law requires posting returns — but not the images that generated them

What this means for you Where machines are used to count votes, the actual digital ballot images — the record of what was counted — would become public within a day. You could see the ballots, not just the totals.

What We Stand For

Open Process

The way your vote gets counted shouldn't be a mystery. Any Wisconsin voter who wants to understand how the system works should be able to — without hiring a lawyer or filing a lawsuit.

Access

Every eligible voter should be able to cast a ballot without confusion — and every citizen should be able to access public election records without paying thousands of dollars.

Accountability

Someone should be responsible when election administration fails. Real-time public data is how that accountability becomes possible.

Trust

Trust in elections is earned through clarity — not demanded through authority. These proposals are about earning it, not assuming it.

You played by the rules.Did everyone?