Bill would require video surveillance of ballot drop boxes as GOP ramps up early vote messaging

 

MADISON Wis. (CBS 58) -- Within days of state election officials approving a series of guidelines on how to best secure and maintain ballot drop boxes, a GOP lawmaker proposed strict requirements to monitor activity around them.

Sen. Dan Knodl (R-Germantown) circulated a co-sponsorship memo last week that would require municipalities to have 24-7 video surveillance of drop boxes and have any removal of ballots to be escorted by law enforcement.

With the presidential election in full swing, the legislature is essentially done for the year. Knodl admitted the bill is unlikely to go anywhere but said he wants to start the conversation now in hopes of implementing "more safeguards" in the future.

"All people, it’s not a partisan thing, want their vote to be secure," Knodl said. "So, if we're going to use these, we should have some protections in place."

Some municipalities, including Madison and Milwaukee, already have video surveillance where a few drop boxes are located because they are outside city buildings. Others can't afford to pay for it, which is why Knodl said his bill would allocate state funds to local clerks to help install cameras.

The measure was introduced days after the bipartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission approved a list of "best practices" for clerks on how to navigate a recent state Supreme Court ruling that reversed a ban on drop boxes earlier this month.

Some of the recommendations include emptying drop boxes often so they don't get full and tracking when ballots are retrieved. The commission did not mandate clerks to follow the guidelines, which Dane County Clerk Scott McDonell said gives municipalities flexibility.

"Not every community is going to want to spend that kind of money for that level of security and they probably feel like they don’t need to," McDonell said.

Knodl believes video surveillance would add another layer of transparency, meanwhile some top Republicans are encouraging voters to use any means possible to vote this November.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) joins a growing list of Republicans urging their base to vote before Election Day, even if that means using drop boxes, as Democrats typically record higher early vote totals.

"We just want people to vote for Donald Trump, I don't really care how they do it," Vos said. "If they want to vote early, vote absentee, vote in person, all of the above should be utilized."

"That's how we're going to beat the Democrats because they will use whatever means are at their disposal to try and gather up votes. I don't think that's right, but if the Supreme court said it is, we must use every possible option."

U.S. Senate Candidate Eric Hovde wants the boxes monitored "literally 24 hours a day" to watch for "people just jumping, jamming fake ballots" in Madison, according to the Washington Post.

Hovde suggested, without evidence, there was "ballot stuffing" during the 2020 election, a false and misleading claim former President Donald often tells supporters was a reason why he narrowly lost the state four years ago to Joe Biden.

It comes as Sen. Ron Johnson and Brian Schimming, chairman of the state GOP party, have been urging Republicans to vote early since the 2022 midterms despite Trump spuing falsehoods it led to fraud and the party recently adopting a platform calling for "one day" voting by "paper ballot."

The mixed messaging doesn't seem to faze the messengers, but whether GOP voters will take advantage of absentee voting remains to be seen.

"We have to move on [from 2020] and make sure the 2024 election is fair and square," Vos said. "We have an opportunity to have Republicans win."