Wisconsin election results; new proposal would speed up process

MILWAUKEE - A new proposal would speed up how long it takes to get your election results. It also adds new restrictions on drop boxes.  

Election changes in the works?

What we know:

Battleground Wisconsin's big election results usually come hours after election day. State Rep. Scott Krug's (R-Rome) proposal could bring them sooner. 

The proposal would allow early processing of absentee ballots. At the same time, the draft would place new requirements on ballot drop boxes. 

What they're saying:

"Why not have the processing bill be its own thing?" asked FOX6's Jason Calvi.

"We've seen that. We tried that last session, got it through the State Assembly on a voice vote. The State Senate didn't even hear it as an individual, standalone bill. To try to run that again in the same way, I think would be a fool's errand. I think it's important for us to understand that that did not fly in the State Senate. We've got to do something a little bit different," Krug answered. 

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"But, the chamber is different this time around. It's no longer super majority for Republicans," Calvi pressed.

"It's in the head of individuals in certain chambers, in my chamber as well, that we've tried and it didn't work," Krug said. "So we're not going to do it. So we've got to figure out a way to do a little bit different this time. And I just think it's way too important going into 2026 to not have a win like this happen. So I think the trade offs on both sides. Everybody's going to have to hold their nose a little bit on some of the things they don't like, but in the end, it's going to benefit the 80% of people who support both concepts all across the state of Wisconsin."

Ballot drop boxes 

Dig deeper:

Right now, Krug's proposal would require two election workers to empty the drop boxes with a police officer supervising. The boxes would need 24/7 video surveillance streamed online. 

"Streaming is very expensive, I would imagine. To have a camera that's live-streaming every single drop box in the city," Calvi said. 

"Yeah, and it's one of the trade offs to make sure that you can have as many as you want. if you want to put in the effort to have the security measures in place for each and every one of those, go right ahead," Krug said. "I think just those standards that we're putting into this bill are a good trade-off for both sides to say, okay, yes, we want to make sure drop boxes are safe and secure. And for Republicans who don't like them, we also want to make sure they understand that we've got some really strict rules in place."

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"They need to be making voting easier for everybody, not harder. And so, my hope is, is that there will be some good faith negotiations on trying to make the best bill possible," said Nick Ramos, Wisconsin Democracy Campaign. "My big thing is that the legislature should pass a clean Monday processing bill without any poison pills in it."

Wisconsin election workers cannot do any processing of absentee ballots until polls open on election day. It takes time. Poll workers have to open the envelope, smooth out the ballot, and assign the absentee voter a number in the poll book. 

Big picture view:

The National Conference of State Legislatures said 43 states allow some ballot processing before election day. 

Gov. Tony Evers' spokeswoman said Evers has been clear he will not approve anything he said will make it harder to cast a ballot. She said it is disappointing Republicans are not working on a standalone early ballot processing bill.