2025 - 2026 LEGISLATURE
LRB-0218/1
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2025 ASSEMBLY BILL 149
March 17, 2025 - Introduced by Representatives SORTWELL, BEHNKE, BRILL,
KREIBICH and WICHGERS, cosponsored by Senator JACQUE. Referred to
Committee on Campaigns and Elections.
***AUTHORS SUBJECT TO CHANGE***
AN ACT to amend 8.18 (1); to create 8.18 (3) of the statutes; relating to: the
nomination of presidential electors.
Analysis by the Legislative Reference Bureau
Under current law, at 10 a.m. on the first Tuesday in October of each year in
which there is a presidential election, the following members of a political party
must convene in the state capitol to nominate the party[s presidential electors:
candidates for state senate or assembly, state officers, and holdover state senators.
A vote for a party[s candidates for president and vice president in the presidential
election is a vote for the party[s presidential electors so nominated. After the
election, the presidential electors of the winning candidates for president and vice
president then convene and transmit their votes for president and vice president to
Congress.
Under this bill, if, in a presidential election year, a political party does not
have a candidate for state senate or assembly, state officer, or holdover state
senator, in lieu of a convention described above, no later than 10 a.m. on the first
Tuesday in October preceding the presidential election, the chairperson of the state
committee of the political party must nominate the party[s presidential electors.
The people of the state of Wisconsin, represented in senate and assembly, do
enact as follows:
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2 2025 - 2026 Legislature
ASSEMBLY BILL 149
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SECTION 1
SECTION 1. 8.18 (1) of the statutes is amended to read:
8.18 (1) Candidates Except as provided under sub. (3), candidates for the
senate and assembly nominated by each political party at the primary, the state
officers, and the holdover state senators of each political party shall meet in the
state capitol at 10 a.m. on the first Tuesday in October of each year in which there
is a presidential election.
SECTION 2. 8.18 (3) of the statutes is created to read:
8.18 (3) If, in a presidential election year, a political party does not have a
candidate for the senate or assembly nominated by the political party at the
primary, state officer, or holdover state senator, in lieu of a convention under sub.
(1), no later than 10 a.m. on the first Tuesday in October preceding the presidential
election, the chairperson of the state committee of the political party shall do all of
the following:
(a) Nominate for the party one presidential elector from each congressional
district and 2 electors from the state at large.
(b) Immediately certify the names of the nominees under par. (a) to the
chairperson of the commission.
(END)
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