Wisconsin Elections Commission approves administrative rule for observers
The Wisconsin Elections Commission on Wednesday approved the final text on a permanent administrative rule guiding the conduct of election observers at polling places in the state. After two years of work and multiple rounds of public comment, the rule will now be sent to Gov. Tony Evers who can decide to send it to a legislative committee for final approval.
While this is the first permanent rule approved by the commission since the agency’s creation in 2016, the rule won’t be in effect for the election in November.
The administrative rule guides how election observers are allowed to act in a polling place, where they are allowed to stand and how close to certain activities they’re allowed to be. The rule also lays out how observers can challenge certain activities they witness; when and how election officials can remove observers from the polling place; and what members of the news media are allowed to do, including taking pictures or video inside polling places.
The rule was approved 5-1. Republican commissioner Robert Spindell cast the only no vote after a number of speakers during the meeting’s public comment period objected to some of the rule’s provisions and questioned if it would be approved by the Republicans who control the Legislature’s Joint Committee on the Review of Administrative Rules (JCRAR).
https://wisconsinexaminer.com/2024/09/11/wisconsin-elections-commission-approves-administrative-rule-for-observers/