Date of enactment:
2023 Senate Bill 736 Date of publication*:
2023 WISCONSIN ACT
AN ACT to renumber 5.07; to amend 7.60 (5); and to create 5.07 (2), 7.08 (13) and 13.94 (11) of the statutes; relating
to: postelection audits by the Legislative Audit Bureau and providing a penalty.
The people of the state of Wisconsin, represented in
senate and assembly, do enact as follows:
SECTION 1. 5.07 of the statutes is renumbered 5.07
(1).
SECTION 2. 5.07 (2) of the statutes is created to read:
5.07 (2) Notwithstanding s. 5.06 (2), any person may
commence an action in circuit court to compel an election
official or the commission to comply with s. 7.08 (13).
If a court finds that an election official or the commission
is not complying with s. 7.08 (13), the official or commis-
sion is subject to a forfeiture of $500 for each day of non-
compliance.
SECTION 3. 7.08 (13) of the statutes is created to read:
7.08 (13) LEGISLATIVE AUDIT BUREAU; POSTELECTION
AUDIT. (a) Following each general election, assist the
counties and municipalities with the audit performed by
the legislative audit bureau, as authorized under s. 13.94
(11). Immediately after its certification of the election
results under s. 7.70, the commission shall randomly
select 4 counties and one city and one village from each
of those counties, except that one of the counties shall be
one of the 10 most populous counties in the state. The
legislative audit bureau shall conduct its audit in the
municipalities selected by the commission.
(b) The municipal clerks of the municipalities
selected under par. (a) shall allow the legislative audit
bureau to physically handle and examine all original
election materials, including ballots and absentee ballot
certificates, at the bureau’s discretion, at a secure site
established by the municipal clerk and the commission.
All election materials examined by the bureau shall
remain in the custody of the municipal clerk. The com-
mission shall ensure that the legislative audit bureau is
able to conduct and complete its audit and that the munic-
ipal clerks maintain management authority over the
retention and security of election records.
(c) All steps of the audit conducted under par. (a)
shall be performed publicly, and the municipal clerk shall
establish observation areas at the site where the audit is
conducted that are not less than 3 feet from nor more than
8 feet from any area where the legislative audit bureau is
examining election materials.
(d) The legislative audit bureau shall report any inci-
dent of noncompliance with this subsection to the
speaker of the assembly, the president of the senate, and
to the appropriate standing committees of the legislature
with jurisdiction over elections, as provided under s.
13.172 (3).
SECTION 4. 7.60 (5) of the statutes is amended to
read:
7.60 (5) REPORTING. (a) Immediately following the
canvass, the county clerk shall deliver or transmit to the
elections commission and the legislative audit bureau a
certified copy of each statement of the county board of
* Section 991.11, WISCONSIN STATUTES: Effective date of acts. “Every act and every portion of an act enacted by the legislature over the governor’s
partial veto which does not expressly prescribe the time when it takes effect shall take effect on the day after its date of publication.” − 2 −2023 Wisconsin Act 2023 Senate Bill 736
canvassers for president and vice president, state offi-
cials, senators and representatives in congress, state leg-
islators, justice, court of appeals judge, circuit judge, dis-
trict attorney, and metropolitan sewerage
commissioners, if the commissioners are elected under s.
200.09 (11) (am). The statement shall record the returns
for each office or referendum by ward, unless combined
returns are authorized under s. 5.15 (6) (b) in which case
the statement shall record the returns for each group of
combined wards. Following primaries the county clerk
shall enclose on forms prescribed by the elections com-
mission the names, party or principle designation, if any,
and number of votes received by each candidate recorded
in the same manner. The county clerk shall deliver or
transmit the certified statement to the elections commis-
sion no later than 9 days after each primary except the
partisan primary, no later than 10 days after the partisan
primary and any other election except the general elec-
tion, and no later than 14 days after the general election.
The county clerk shall deliver or transmit the certified
statement regarding the general election to the legislative
audit bureau no later than 14 days after the general elec-
tion. The board of canvassers shall deliver or transmit a
certified copy of each statement for any technical college
district referendum to the secretary of the technical col-
lege district board.
(b) If the board of canvassers becomes aware of a
material mistake in the canvass of an election for state or
national office or a statewide or technical college district
referendum prior to the close of business on the day the
elections commission receives returns from the last
county board of canvassers with respect to that canvass,
the board of canvassers may petition the elections com-
mission to reopen and correct the canvass. The elections
commission shall direct the canvass to be reopened and
corrected if it determines that the public interest so
requires. If the elections commission directs the canvass
to be reopened, the board of canvassers shall reconvene
and transmit a certified corrected copy of the canvass
statement to the elections commission and the legislative
audit bureau or to the secretary of the technical college
district board.
SECTION 5. 13.94 (11) of the statutes is created to
read:
13.94 (11) POSTELECTION AUDIT. Following each
general election, the state auditor shall conduct a perfor-
mance audit of the election processes as provided under
s. 7.08 (13). The legislative audit bureau shall submit a
report of its findings and recommendations to the legisla-
ture, as provided under s. 13.172 (2), no later than June
30 of the odd−numbered year following the election.