Jessica Mcbride

Wisconsin’s governor is asking the state Supreme Court to allow ballot drop boxes ahead of this November’s election. Gov. Tony Evers filed a brief with the court, asking the new liberal-majority to overturn a ruling from 2022 that said ballot drop boxes are not allowed under state law. “At the very heart of our democracy is the fundamental freedom to vote. In Wisconsin, we must work to protect that freedom and to empower our clerks and election administrators working hard at the local level to make decisions that are right for their communities. Drop box voting is safe and secure, and there is nothing in Wisconsin’s election laws that prohibit our local clerks from using this secure option, absent an incorrect ruling by our courts,” Evers said in a statement. Wisconsin law does not specifically allow for ballot drop boxes anywhere other than the local clerk’s office. The then-conservative-majority court based its ruling that banned ballot drop boxes on that fact. But Evers ...

California lieutenant governor Eleni Kounalakis urged state secretary Shirley Weber to “explore every legal option” to remove former president Donald Trump from the 2024 primary ballot, claiming “California must stand on the right side of history,” and that “this is a dire matter that puts at stake the sanctity of our constitution and our democracy.” On Tuesday, the Colorado Supreme Court voted 3-4 to block former President Donald Trump from receiving votes on the 2024 presidential primary ballot, saying he is disqualified because he “engaged in an insurrection,” a reference to his role in the Jan. 6 Capitol protests gone awry. Noting the list of certified candidates for the 2024 primary must be certified by December 28, the letter from Kounalakis cited the Colorado decision, which she says is “about honoring the rule of law in our country and protecting the fundamental pillars of our democracy,” as the impetus for her call for Weber to act. The Colorado decision does not take...

Wisconsin’s governor is making it clear he’s not going to sign off on the end of the Wisconsin Elections Commission. Gov. Tony Evers was a guest on Upfront on Milwaukee TV over the weekend and said he will veto the Republican-backed plan to get rid of the elections commission and shift its powers to the secretary of state’s office. “Under no circumstances, simple as that,” Evers said. Republican Rep. Ty Bodden, R-Stockbridge, introduced the plan last week. He said moving the responsibility for managing Wisconsin’s elections to the elected secretary of state will help restore faith in the state’s electoral process. “The Wisconsin Elections Commission and its makeup has been a disaster for the state of Wisconsin. The Government Accountability Board was a failed agency and WEC was another failed experiment that replaced it. Let’s not try to reinvent the wheel, but rather give the responsibilities back to the secretary of state, the position that administers elections in 38 other...

Wisconsin’s governor is criticizing Republican lawmakers for not following science and what he is calling an “antipathy” toward LGBTQ people. The governor said in an interview with WisEeye he will veto the Republican-backed plan to ban sex change operations and hormone therapy for children in Wisconsin. “I didn’t realize that the legislature had the ability to know more about that issue than the physicians that are with those kids,” Gov. Tony Evers said. Both the Wisconsin Assembly and the State Senate this month passed legislation that would ban transgender procedures for children. Wisconsin Right Now published a  multipart series exploring gender treatments in Wisconsin hospitals. Republicans said the idea is to give young people and their families time to “hit the pause button.” “What this bill does is it grants minors the time for their minds to develop in order to make the right choice for them at the appropriate developmental age,” Rep. Scott Allen, R-Waukesha, sa...

Wisconsin’s governor wants abortion 100% legal or nothing at all. Gov. Tony Evers on Tuesday told the crowd at the Rotary Club of Milwaukee that he would not sign a new law allowing for abortions in Wisconsin in cases of rape or incest. “I wouldn’t sign it because it leaves the underlying law in place,” Evers explained. The governor has made abortion the centerpiece of his re-election bid. He has spent millions of dollars, and seen millions more from outside groups spent on campaign commercials calling Republican Tim Michels “radical.” “[Abortion] shouldn’t be a politician's choice. And that’s where I absolutely disagree with my opponent,” Evers explained. Michels, for his part, said even though he is pro-life, he would sign a law allowing women who are the victims of sexual assault or incest to get an abortion. “I am pro-life and make no apologies for that. But I also understand that this is a representative democracy. And if the people, in this case, the legislature...