PILF President J. Christian Adams penned an op-ed in Wisconsin Right Now: Making Sure That Safeguards for Election Day Registration Are Enforced

• “Wisconsin is one of many states offering Election Day Registration. This means voters can show up at the polls on Election Day to register to vote. This system unfortunately trades election integrity for convenience. Election Day Registration is a vote now, verify later system.”

• “In Wisconsin, the verification of eligibility happens after all the votes have been counted and the election is certified. This is one of the worst ways to run a clean election. It is a system with ample opportunity for abuse.

• “Under Wisconsin law, the Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC) performs audits of Election Day Registration users by mailing postcards to the addresses they gave at the polls. If the postcard returns as ‘undeliverable,’ officials are expected to inactivate the registrant before referring them to law enforcement.”

• “Earlier this year, we found that Green Bay Clerk Celestine Jeffreys was not investigating any addresses failing audits for years, therefore she was not inactivating registrants and was not referring these cases to her district attorney. Jeffreys admitted she was not following the law because of ‘a lack of awareness’ during a formal complaint briefing in my clients’ WEC complaint filings.”

• “Here is the good news: these troubling vulnerabilities in the Election Day Registration process were exposed before this upcoming Presidential Election. There are effective legal options available to respond to people who abuse the system.”

• “We will make sure that safeguards for Election Day Registration are enforced and that people who abuse the system are referred to county prosecutors. When election officials don’t follow or enforce the law, people lose trust in the election system.”

Read the full op-ed here.