The Senate doesn’t have enough Republican votes to send a bill to the governor that would allow clerks to begin processing absentee ballots on Monday, Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu, R-Oostburg, said Sunday.
“I’m not sure that we have enough votes to pass that this session,” LeMahieu told WISN-TV’s ‘Upfront’ host Matt Smith.
Without a final vote in the Senate, election officials will not have the ability to start processing absentee ballots a day early for the upcoming 2024 elections. Wisconsin is one of only a handful of states that don’t allow clerks to begin processing absentee ballots prior to Election Day.
Clerks and bipartisan lawmakers have pushed for the change to prevent voter confusion and conspiracies that result from large amounts of ballots being processed late and added to totals, sometimes changing which candidate is in the lead.
LeMahieu’s comments almost certainly mean the bill will not be approved this year. The bill passed the Assembly in November on a voice vote, and Democratic Gov. Tony Evers has said he will sign it if no “poison pills” were added to the legislation.