Wisconsin Republicans Must Stop Playing Political Games with Women’s Health
So-Called “Pro-Life” Caucus Refuses to Care About Health & Lives of Wisconsinites
 
MADISON – As residents of our state continue to struggle under the weight of the still raging COVID pandemic, the State’s legislative majority insists on putting politics before people. Instead of prioritizing legislation that would immediately improve the health, lives and economic security of Wisconsin families, leaders in the State Capitol choose to spend their days pushing an extreme political agenda completely out of touch with voters.
 
“It’s infuriating to watch the legislative majority in our state rush through dangerous policies under a so-called “Time for Life” agenda,” notes Wisconsin Alliance for Women’s Health Executive Director Sara Finger. “It’s time that we call out the hypocrisy and recognize how little the GOP actually cares about the health and lives of Wisconsin women and their families.”
 
While a growing list of positive, evidence-based bills are blatantly ignored, the Republican majority in the State Senate and State Assembly are making clear choices indicating where their priorities lie. The following is a list of powerful policies available now for our legislature to take up and pass if they authentically cared about the lives of Wisconsin women and babies:

• Abortion Rights Preservation Act (SB 75/AB 106)
• Diaper & Tampon Sales Tax Exemption (SB 227)
• 12 Month Birth Control Prescription (SB 288/AB 256)
• CLEAR Act to Regulate PFAS (SB 361/AB 419)
• Expand BadgerCare  (SB 439/AB 444)
• Increase Minimum Wage (SB 452/AB 477)
• Increasing the Earned Income Tax Credit (SB 465/AB 494)
• Right to Breastfeed (SB 493/AB 476)
• Baby Bond Trust Fund (SB 497/AB 513)
• Extend Postpartum Medicaid Coverage for One Year (SB 562)

“If those who wear the “pro-life” badge so proudly really cared about life, they would stop ignoring our infant mortality crisis, they would take the COVID pandemic and science-based public health precautions seriously, and they would increase access to affordable health care in our state,” adds Finger. “And for those fighting so hard for “choice” when it comes to masks and vaccines, Wisconsinites are taking note of every effort these same individuals are making to take away the autonomy and choice of women in our state when it comes to their most fundamental rights.”

How the Build Back Better Framework Will Support Women’s Employment and Strengthen Family Economic Security

Despite the progress our nation has made over the last four months, there remain two million fewer women in the workforce than there were before the pandemic struck – taking a toll on our economy and on millions of families across the country. Thirty years of progress in women’s labor force participation has been eroded; millions of women are still struggling to return to the workforce. And while the pandemic has exacerbated this reality, many of the challenges facing women aren’t new. Historically, women have typically held jobs with lower wages and fewer benefits and protections. Women of color are even more likely to work in jobs that have lower wages and few benefits and protections.
 
Our economic recovery depends on addressing longstanding discrimination and barriers that have hampered women—including women of color—from fully participating in the labor force. One economist finds the President’s plan, and especially its investments in the care economy, would increase labor force participation by almost a full percentage point—with even greater gains for women—and boost the economy’s real GDP growth by 10 to 15 basis points in the long-term. Increasing women’s labor force participation is also critical to supporting America’s working families, including the over 4 in 10 mothers – disproportionately women of color – who are sole or primary breadwinners for their families, contributing significantly to their families’ total earnings.
 
When women are better off, we’re all better off. The Build Back Better Agenda rests on our commitment to ensuring every American is given a fair shot to get ahead in this country. It will strengthen our families, our communities, and our nation by making bold and necessary investments in women’s employment and ensure a broad and deep recovery – one on which the success of the entire U.S. economy rests. Our economy cannot reach its full potential when half of the population is forced to leave their jobs, cut back on their hours, or unable to access good jobs. These issues are not simply women’s issues. They are issues that affect all families, our economy’s stability and growth, and our nation’s competitiveness.
 
Supporting Women’s Caregiving Needs

Too many American women struggle with the high costs of raising children, caring for a sick family member, providing long-term care for people with disabilities or older adults, and addressing the myriad other caregiving challenges. Although professional care is costly for families, caregivers themselves - disproportionately women of color - remain some of the most underpaid workers in the country, often having to rely on public income supports to get by. And, many American women fill the gap in professional caregiving options by providing unpaid care to their loved ones, often causing them to reduce working hours, choose lower-paying jobs, or leave the labor force entirely.
 
In part due to the lack of family friendly policies, the United States has fallen behind its competitors in the share of women in the labor force. The United States is one of the only countries in the world that does not guarantee paid leave -- 95 percent of the lowest wage workers, who tend to be predominately women and workers of color, lack any access to paid family leave. Only 57 percent of children under six years old have parents who report there are good choices for child care where they live. And, high costs and increasing shortages of care for disabled and elderly people leave many to rely on unpaid caregiving – more than one in six adult women are unpaid eldercare providers. One study estimates that women who leave the labor force early to care for elderly parents lose $330,000 [1] in lifetime wages and Social Security benefits.
 
Research shows investments in the care economy would increase employment, especially for women, reducing the gender employment divide. Not only would this support women’s economic security, it would lead to a more robust and equitable economy. The President’s Build Back Better plan:
 

• Creates a National Comprehensive Paid Family and Medical Leave Program. The program will ensure workers receive partial wage replacement to take time to bond with a new child; care for a seriously ill loved one; deal with a loved one’s military deployment; find safety from sexual assault, stalking, or domestic violence; heal from their own serious illness; or take time to deal with the death of a loved one. This program guarantees twelve weeks of annual paid parental, family, and personal illness/safe leave, and also ensures workers get three days of bereavement leave per year. The program will provide workers up to $4,000 a month, with a minimum of two-thirds of average weekly wages replaced, rising to 80 percent for the lowest wage workers. In California, one study found that the state’s paid leave law increased new mothers’ likelihood of working a year after the birth of their child by 18 percentage points. In addition recent research shows that in the short term, paid family leave policies are associated with positive health outcomes including better maternal physical health, infant mortality, improved infant attachment and childhood development. Paid family leave encourages men and women to take time off. This is crucial in an economy in which fatherhood increases men’s wages and motherhood decreases women’s (by four percent per child), exacerbating the gender wage gap.
  
  
• Guarantees access to high-quality, affordable child care for low- and middle-income families and offers universal free preschool to all three- and four-year old children. President Biden’s Build Back Better plan offers free, high-quality preschool to all three- and four-year old children, fully covers the cost of high-quality child care for young children for the most hard-pressed working families, and ensures that families earning up to 1.5 times their state’s median income will pay no more than 7 percent of their income for all children under age five. This is estimated to increase labor force participation of these parents, and especially women, by up to 20 percent. The President’s plan would also make permanent the dramatic expansion of the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit (CDCTC) enacted in the American Rescue Plan. With this expanded credit, families can receive up to half of what they spend on child care for children under age 13, up to a total of $4,000 for one child or $8,000 for two or more children. In addition to reducing the cost of child care and freeing up money for other spending, child care and preschool programs also increase mothers’ incomes, as mothers continue working and earn more over time.
  
  
• Expands Access to Long-Term Care Services under Medicaid. In addition to caring for children, families feel the financial burden of caring for aging relatives and family members with disabilities, and there is a financial strain for people with disabilities living independently to ensure that they are getting care in their homes. At the same time, hundreds of thousands of people who need better care are unable to access it, even though they qualify under Medicaid. Aging relatives and people with disabilities deserve high-quality care that meets their unique needs and personal choices. President Biden is calling on Congress to put $400 billion toward expanding access to quality, affordable home- or community-based care. One recent study finds that for every 2.4 to 3 women whose parent receives formal home care through Medicaid, one additional daughter works full-time.
  
  
• Boosts compensation of child care and home care workers. About nine in ten care workers are women, and nearly five in ten child care workers are women of color. As of 2020, the median child care worker made $12.24 per hour and the median home health and personal care aide made $13.02 an hour. On average, child care workers make 23 percent below workers who do not work in child care. The President’s plan would ensure child care and preschool teachers are paid at least $15 an hour and comparable to kindergarten teachers if they have similar credentials. The President’s plan to expand HCBS under Medicaid will support well-paying caregiving jobs that include benefits and the ability to collectively bargain. Investment in higher labor standards for care workers improve these jobs and supporting the economic security of women who fill them, help close the gender pay gap, and attract more workers to the care industry.
  
  
• Addresses Maternal and Infant Health Disparities. The Biden-Harris Administration is committed to tackling health disparities that are rooted in bias and systemic racism. America’s maternal mortality rates are among the highest in the developed world, and they are especially high among Black women and Native American women— regardless of their income or education levels. The Build Back Better proposal would make health insurance for women who buy it on their own more affordable by making the American Rescue Plan’s premium reductions permanent, saving women $600 a year. It also includes a $3 billion investment to improve maternal and infant health outcomes. Growing and diversifying the perinatal workforce, improving data collection to better understand the causes of maternal death and complications from birth, and investing in community-based organizations are priorities of this Administration.

 
Strengthening Family Economic Security

When households do not have enough income, they are forced to make impossible trade-offs between paying for rent, education, healthcare, and food. These choices have consequences and limit the investments made in oneself and one’s children. The Build Back Better agenda makes significant investments to increase household stability and economic security.

• Supports the construction or rehabilitation of over 1 million affordable rental housing units in building and small towns across the country. Before the pandemic, HUD estimated that nearly 5 million female-headed households that didn’t receive federal housing assistance paid more than half their income in rent or lived in severely inadequate units. The Build Back Better plan would bolster funding for successful housing subsidy programs to produce and preserve housing that is affordable for very- and extremely-low income renters.
  
  
• Addresses longstanding public housing capital needs. Nearly two million people across the country live in public housing. Approximately 75 percent of households living in public housing units are headed by women, and 33 percent of all households are headed by women with children. Nearly half of the nearly 1 million units of public housing are over 50 years old and many contain lead paint, mold, and other health hazards. The President’s plan calls for a transformative investment of $40 billion to rehabilitate and preserve public housing, addressing residents’ critical health and safety concerns. This is not just a safety issue but a racial justice issue, as approximately three in four public housing residents are people of color.
  
  
• Extends the Expanded Monthly Child Tax Credit. The Build Back Better proposal would extend the Child Tax Credit (CTC) expansion first enacted in the American Rescue Plan – increasing the credit from $2,000 per child to $3,000 per child six-years-old and above, and from $2000 to $3,600 per child for children under six. This means a monthly payment of $300 per month per child under 6 and $250 a month for each child six and older. Parents can use this tax credit on everything from diapers, to putting more food on the table, to paying the rent or mortgage. An estimated 66 million children (90 percent) and their parents will benefit from this tax credit expansion including 9 million Black children and 18 million Latino children.
  
  
• Supports nutrition security. Nutrition insecurity has a negative and lasting impact on a child’s ability to learn and can put children at higher risk for diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, and high blood pressure. However, provide adequate nutrition can be an incredible financial burden for parents. The Build Back Better plan will expand free meals to an additional 9.3 million children during the school year. Additionally, the plan will invest more than $25 billion so that the families of all 29 million children eligible for free and reduced-price school meals will receive a $75 per child per month benefit to purchase nutritious foods during the summer.

 
Expanding Education, Training, and Job Opportunities for Women

The Build Back Better agenda will ensure that the economy is built on a foundation of equity, by strengthening the education and workforce pipeline for more women to obtain high-quality in-demand jobs. These workforce development investments are based on evidence-based approaches to supporting workers, including women and people of color. Some of these approaches include wraparound services –such as child care and transportation – income supports, counseling, and case management, paired with high-quality training and effective partnerships between educational institutions, unions, and employers. These investments will ensure jobs have fair and equal pay, safe and healthy workplaces, and that workplaces are free from racial, gender, and other forms of discrimination and harassment. They will also help more women enroll in college, reduce their need to rely on student debt, and ensure they have the supports they need to complete their training program, certificate or degree.
 
The President’s Build Back Better plan:

• Protects the health, safety and rights of working women. This includes jobs with fair and equal pay, safe and healthy workplaces, and workplaces free from racial, gender, and other forms of discrimination and harassment. In addition to a $10 billion investment in enforcement as part of the plan’s workforce proposals, the President is calling for increased penalties when employers violate workplace safety and health rules. President Biden is also calling on Congress to ensure all workers have a free and fair choice to join a union by passing the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act. Unions benefit women’s wages; in 2020, the median weekly earning of full-time workers 16+ was $1,067 for women who are members of unions, $1,057 for women who are represented by unions, and $862 for non-union women. His plan also ensures domestic workers receive the legal benefits and protections they deserve and tackles gender pay inequities.
  
  
• Invests in gender equitable workforce development programs and creates new career pathways for women. As more Americans rejoin the workforce or seek out new opportunities in a changing economy, we must ensure workers have ready access to the skills they will need to succeed, and improve racial and gender equity. This includes registered apprenticeships and pre-apprenticeships, creating one to two million new registered apprenticeships slots, and making these opportunities accessible to underserved populations, including women and people of color, through successful pre-apprenticeship programs, such as Women in Apprenticeship and Non-Traditional Occupations grants that help to expand pathways for women to enter and lead in all industries. It also includes sector-based training programs that provide millions of workers, including women and people of color, with in-demand training that leads to high-quality jobs in high-growth and critical industries and sectors including information technology, clean energy, public health, home care and child care, manufacturing and infrastructure. The President’s plan also creates a new subsidized jobs program that will invest in the creation of hundreds of thousands of subsidized employment opportunities for workers adversely affected by the economic crisis, especially public assistance recipients, long-term unemployed individuals and the underemployed. These investments also include the creation of career pathway programs in middle and high schools, prioritizing increased access to computer science and high-quality career and technical programs that connect underrepresented students to STEM and in-demand sectors through partnerships with both institutions of higher education and employers.
  
  
• Increases the affordability of, access to, and student success in education beyond high school. Women constitute more than half of all college students. At the same time, a number of women in higher education are raising children while pursuing a certificate or degree, often at community colleges. More than 20 percent of all college students are parents; of those, over 70 percent are mothers and 43 percent are single mothers. Only 8 percent of single mothers who entered college between 2013 and 2017 earned a degree or certificate within six years, compared to 49 percent of women students who were not parents. Additionally, women are more likely to face financial barriers while in college. They are about seven percentage points more likely to take out federal loans than men, and have more federal student loan debt on average. Increased financial support for college can boost completion rates. Increased financial support for college can boost completion rates. The President’s $109 billion plan will ensure that first-time students and workers wanting to reskill can enroll in a community college to earn a degree or credential for free. The President is calling for a $39 billion investment in tuition subsidies to increase affordability at Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Tribal Colleges and Universities, and Minority-Serving Institutions. The plan also increases the maximum Pell Grant award by approximately $1,500 and allows DREAMers to access Pell Grants. This will support the 43 percent of women in college who rely on Pell to afford their higher education goals. Finally, the President is proposing a bold $62 billion grant program to invest in completion and retention activities at colleges and universities that serve high numbers of low-income students, particularly community colleges, which can be used for student support services that include child care.
  
  
• Advances equity in research and development and science, technology, engineering, and math. Discrimination leads to less innovation: one study found that innovation in the United States would quadruple if women, people of color, and children from low-income families invented at the same rate as other groups. Persistent inequities in access to R&D dollars and to careers in innovation industries prevents the U.S. economy from reaching its full potential. The President’s plan includes $10 billion in new grants to HBCUs and MSIs, in addition to, funding for research infrastructure (ex. labs) and funding for equity in STEM education.
  
  
• Helps small businesses, including women-owned businesses and minority business enterprises, access capital and scale through over $30 billion in investments. President Biden is calling on Congress to invest in federal programs that empower small firms to participate in federal research and other research and development initiatives that have the potential for commercialization. His plan will also support new grantmaking through the Minority Business Development Agency that will help small businesses owned by people of color access private capital. And, it will enable small businesses to drive the economic recovery by investing in the Small Business Administration’s 7(a) loan program and Small Business Investment Company program.
  
  
• Invests in teachers. For too long, we have underinvested in our teachers, 76% of whom are women. From teachers in training to veteran teachers, the President’s plan invests $9 billion in teachers, addressing teacher shortages, recruiting more teachers of color, improving teacher preparation and supporting teachers. The plan would invest in innovative and effective teacher training programs like residencies, that provide future teachers with a year of experience before they take charge of a classroom, double the annual scholarship for future teachers from $4,000 to $8,000 per year, and help schools leverage their expert teachers as mentors supporting new and struggling teachers, or as leaders in other areas, and compensate them for this work. All of these policies will disproportionately benefit women.
  

Investments in Wisconsin Women & Girls Eliminated from State Budget
State Legislative Majority Puts Politics Over People
 
MADISON – Statement from Sara Finger, Executive Director and Founder of the Wisconsin Alliance for Women’s Health (WAWH)
 
“To say the approved State Budget missed the mark on safeguarding and advancing the health, safety, and economic security of women and girls -- would not be saying nearly enough”
 
“While Governor Evers proposed a State Budget filled with evidence based measures to improve the health and lives of Wisconsin women and their families, the GOP majority in the State Legislature denied all of these opportunities and failed to make the investments needed to help women in our state recover and thrive following the pandemic.”
 
“State budgets are moral documents that offer a powerful reflection of our leaders’ collective priorities. Our current state legislative leaders have insulted Wisconsin women with their budget and have failed to prioritize the health, safety and economic security of families in our state.”
 
“By refusing to extend BadgerCare coverage to 91,000 Wisconsinites, removing critical funds to support women of color led efforts to disrupt maternal and child health disparities in our state, and decimating support for family care givers, the State Legislature continues to ignore the health care needs of communities devastated by COVID.”
 
“Our greatest frustration lies with a final budget that fails to extend postpartum Medicaid coverage to one full year following the birth of a child. Once again, our legislative leaders have ignored the evidence and the voices of mothers across our state. The GOP’s gesture of pacification to extend coverage for one more month that currently offered, falls far short of the expert recommendations and is insufficient to make a difference for moms and babies in our state.”
 
“And while health care leaders like the Wisconsin Medical Society have declared racism as a public health crisis, our State Legislature has blatantly dismissed any such crisis and has denied communities of color in our state a budget that invests in health and racial equity.”
  
“We remain committed to working with the Evers Administration and champions in the Capitol to advance our shared policy vision outside of the budget process. Wisconsin women still deserve to be heard, and we won’t stop holding our leaders accountable for their failures to invest in our health, safety, and economic security.”

The Wisconsin Alliance for Women's Health is proud to join with over 100 other organizations in Wisconsin calling on the Joint Finance Committee to hold Budget Hearings virtually for public safety and accessibility

February 18, 2021

To: The Joint Finance Committee
Cc: Governor Evers, Senate Majority Leader LeMahieu, Senate Minority Leader Bewley, Speaker Vos, Assembly Minority Leader Hintz, Members of the Legislature

Dear Co-Chairs Marklein and Born,

The state budget process is one of the most important policy discussions that legislators, the Governor’s staff, and advocacy groups engage in together. At the heart of the state budget is the belief that our state’s values are reflected in the decisions that are made about how we spend our state’s tax dollars. But, it is also true that robust public engagement in making these decisions is a value in and of itself. As advocacy organizations representing various issues, geographic reach, and constituency bases, it is essential that we reach out to you as the Co-Chairs of the Joint Finance Committee to offer our support for making the 2021-2022 State Budget hearings be as productive and inclusive as possible. While we represent far ranging and diverse populations, we are united in wanting to make sure that every person who wants to participate in the JFC hearings, and other legislative hearings this session, can do so safely.

Because of the known risks with large public gatherings due to Covid-19 and the uncertainty about when it will be safe for all members of the public to attend, we as member-based organizations cannot in good conscience encourage our members to risk their health to attend large public hearings. Many of our members are at higher risk of developing life-threatening health issues due to age or underlying health conditions. Some of our members are from communities that have been especially hard hit by the COVID pandemic, such as people of color, who are at higher risk for adverse outcomes from a COVID infection. In addition, there is concern that not adequately following public health guidance for large public gatherings will further strain our health care system, which we all benefit in keeping COVID care from overwhelming.

The below signed advocacy groups are asking you, in your discretion as chairs, to make the following virtual and remote options available for public testimony to the JFC committee and ability to formally register their positions on the state budget:

• Establish an e-mail address for the Joint Finance Committee expressly for collecting testimony for inclusion into the public record.
• Establish an online version of the hearing slip that can be used anywhere in the state by constituents to register their position on the budget similar to what they could fill out if they attended in person.
• Develop clear, consistent language and instructions for the public on how they may register and submit testimony remotely. We suggest these instructions are included as part of every public hearing notice.
• Allow use of virtual platforms for remote testimony. Many platforms allow registration in advance and uploading of files which may be useful features for legislative committees. State agencies have used these platforms for gathering public input and comment during the pandemic.
• Consider providing a limited (by registration) call-in option for individuals to provide remote testimony if they do not have access to the internet, do not have a computer or have poor broadband.
• Ensure there are clear guidelines and notices posted online and in other places to help people understand all testimony options.
• Coordinate with state expertise (such as the Department of Health Services media team) to maximize accessibility for constituents with sensory disabilities on virtual platforms.
• Partner with Wisconsin Eye to provide captioning and ASL interpreters for hearing impaired individuals for all public hearings using this service.

The below signed groups and our members wish to support a state budget process that welcomes the voices and experience of all people in Wisconsin during this critical time. We believe these suggestions will help you and other members of the committee run a state budget hearing process that we can all be proud of together.

Sincerely,
1000 Friends of Wisconsin
350 Madison
A Better Wisconsin Together
AARP Wisconsin
ACLU of Wisconsin
African American Roundtable, Inc.
AFSCME Council 32
All Voting Is Local
Alliance for the Great Lakes
Autism Society of Greater Wisconsin
Autism Society of South Central Wisconsin
Autism Society of Southeastern Wisconsin
Black Leaders Organizing for Communities (BLOC)
Black Lives Matter to Wisconsin Unitarian Universalists
Blue Sky Waukesha
Central Wisconsin ADAPT
Chippewa Valley Transit Alliance, Inc.
Citizen Action of Wisconsin
Citizen Advocates for Public Education
Clean Wisconsin
Coalition For Justice
Common Cause Wisconsin
Common Cause Wisconsin
Consumer Direct Care Network
Crawford Stewardship Project
Disability Rights Wisconsin
Dominican Sisters of Sinsinawa
End Domestic Abuse Wisconsin
Esther
Ex-Incarcerated People Organizing (EXPO)
Fair Wisconsin
First Baptist Church of Madison
For Our Future Wisconsin
Harambee Village Doulas
Interfaith Earth Network
Kids Forward
League of Women Voters of Wisconsin
LOV Inc, Living Our Visions Inclusively
Lutheran Office for Public Policy in Wisconsin
Madtown Mommas and Disability Advocates
Main Street Alliance
Metcalfe Park Community Bridges, Inc.
Midwest Environmental Advocates
Milwaukee Branch NAACP
Milwaukee County Human Rights Commission
Milwaukee Inner-city Congregations Allied for Hope (MICAH)
Milwaukee Mental Health Task Force
Milwaukee Riverkeeper
Milwaukee Turners
Milwaukee Zen Center
Monona UMC
NAACP Milwaukee Branch
NASW WI
Northern Wisconsin NORML
People First Wisconsin
People of Progression
Planned Parenthood Advocates of Wisconsin
Progress North
Protect Our Care Wisconsin
RENEW Wisconsin
Rid Racism Milwaukee
River Alliance of Wisconsin
Schools and Communities United
Sierra Club Wisconsin
Souled Out Ministries INC
SOULS
Souls To The Polls
Southeastern Wisconsin ADAPT
Survival Coalition of WI Disability Advocacy Organizations
The Arc Greater Columbia County
The Arc Wisconsin
The Arc-Dane County
UFCW Local 1473
Waupaca County ARC Inc.
WI Association of Family & Children's Agencies
WI Board for People with Developmental Disabilities
WI Conference NAACP
WI Early Childhood Association
Wisconsin Aging Advocacy Network
Wisconsin Alliance for Excellent Schools
Wisconsin Alliance for Women's Health
Wisconsin Coalition Against Sexual Assault
Wisconsin Coalition of Independent Living Centers, Inc.
Wisconsin Conservation Voters
Wisconsin Council of Churches
Wisconsin Democracy Campaign
Wisconsin Education Association Council
Wisconsin Environment
Wisconsin Environmental Health Network
Wisconsin Faith Voices for Justice
Wisconsin Family Assistance Center for Education, Training & Support (WI FACETS)
Wisconsin Farmers Union
Wisconsin Green Muslims
Wisconsin Health Professionals for Climate Action
Wisconsin Interfaith Power and Light
Wisconsin Justice Initiative
Wisconsin Lakes
Wisconsin Land and Water Conservation Association
Wisconsin Long Term Care Workforce Alliance
Wisconsin Muslim Civic Alliance
Wisconsin Primary Health Care Association
Wisconsin Public Education Network
Wisconsin Wildlife Federation
Wisconsin's Green Fire
WISPIRG
Youth Justice Milwaukee

Election Day is ON.

While Governor Evers tried to postpone today's election for the safety of Wisconsinites, the State Supreme Court order the election to take place.

We know it's been incredibly confusing, so here's some information to help you navigate today's election day:

You can vote in person at the polls until 8:00 PM. You still need ID. You can still register to vote at the polls. These rules have not changed.

If you have an absentee ballot in hand, you can still mail it! ALL ABSENTEE BALLOTS MUST BE POSTMARKED OR RETURNED TO YOUR CLERK'S OFFICE, DESIGNATED POLLING PLACE, OR DROP BOX (IF AVAILABLE) BEFORE 8:00 PM ON APRIL 7th.

If you plan to mail your absentee ballot, be sure to take it to a post office so it will be postmarked with a date. Dropping your ballot in a neighborhood collection box will not ensure that it's postmarked on April 7th. Ballots postmarked after April 7th will not be counted.

Clerks will be allowed to continue counting mailed absentee ballots as they are received, until April 13th, as long as they are postmarked by April 7th. Because of this we won't know election results until April 13th.

VOTING AT THE POLLS

Voters are still assigned to designated polling places (like normal) BUT YOUR POLLING PLACE MIGHT NOT BE WHERE IT USUALLY IS. Check with your municipal clerk to make sure you are headed to the right place. Find your clerk here: https://myvote.wi.gov/en-US/MyMunicipalClerk

Due to a shortage of poll workers, many cities have had to drastically reduce the number of polling places, and in some areas, you might have to drive to another town to vote.

MORE ABOUT ABSENTEE BALLOTS

If you requested an absentee ballot but did not receive it yet, you can vote in person at your polling place. The poll worker will be able to tell that you had requested an absentee ballot and may ask you if you received it and if you already returned it. Because you didn't receive it yet, you will be issued a new ballot and may vote at the polls.

Likewise, if you received your absentee ballot, but did not return it yet, you will be issued a new ballot and may vote at the polls.

As long as you haven't already returned an absentee ballot (by mail, drop off, or any other method) -- you have the right to be issued a new ballot and vote in person on election day.

If you received your absentee ballot, and already returned it (with or without a witness signature or other statement), you will not be allowed to vote at the polling place.

There are no in-person ballot drop offs allowed after April 7th -- including for print-at-home ballots. If you are utilizing a drop box on election day, be sure to check the "last pickup time" and don't wait until the last minute. Clerks will be emptying drop boxes before 8:00 so they can get the ballots back to their office by the 8:00 PM deadline.

Report problems with absentee ballots here: https://www.wheresmyballotwi.org/

If you have questions, or need help or additional resources, Call 1-866-OUR-VOTE (1-866-687-8683)!