(The Center Square) – Wisconsin election officials want to open a new multimillion-dollar office focused solely on election transparency.
The Wisconsin State Elections Commission approved a $2 million budget request to open the Office of Election Transparency and Compliance.
“increase [in election integrity complaints] “We're seeing a surge, and there's no question that the way we've responded to this has not provided the level of service and responsiveness that we would like to have,” WEC Chair Ann Jacobs said at Wednesday's meeting. “I think this proposal really increases our responsiveness in a positive way, and it provides better customer service for people who are requesting open records or who want their complaints heard within a month or two instead of a year.”
Jacobs said creating an Office of Election Transparency is “something we need to do.”
The Election Commission continues to deal with questions about how the state's elections are being administered after the 2020 election led to two investigations into the commission.
Neither investigation provided any new answers about the election that former President Donald Trump and some of his supporters say was stolen.
Commissioner Don Mills said the continuing skepticism is reason enough to open a new transparency office at the elections board.
“The intent is to audit the registration lists,” Mills explained, “and to ensure that our staff has the resources to do these things to increase confidence in election administration and in the election process.”
Commissioner Bob Spindell, a Republican, was the only one to vote against the plan.
He wants more.
“I think it would be good for a program like this to be run essentially by two lawyers,” Spindell said, “one appointed by the Republican leadership in Congress and one appointed by the Democratic leadership in Congress, so both parties have the ability to have a say in what's going on. But an inspector general, or whatever you want to call it, but just an inspector general, I don't think it's going to get the results that I would like.”
If lawmakers approve the plan, Wisconsin would not be the only state to create an Office of Election Transparency.
WEC Administrator Megan Wolf said South Carolina recently approved the creation of a similar office within its elections department.
Gov. Tony Evers proposed a similar plan in his last budget, but Republican lawmakers removed it from the final state spending plan.
