Election Day Registration is a vote now, verify later system

(Madison, WI) – November 1, 2024: The Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) has been working tirelessly this Election year to ensure that Wisconsin’s Election Day Registration safeguards are enforced. Election Day registration means people can show up at the polls to register to vote on Election Day. The verification of a voter’s eligibility happens after all the votes have been counted and the election is certified.

Wisconsin law requires an “audit” of voters’ claimed addresses who register at the polls on Election Day. This process aims to identify which registrations should be deactivated and who should be referred to prosecutors for a potential election crime. 

PILF investigated if election officials were performing this mandatory audit. The investigation revealed that Green Bay Clerk Celestine Jeffreys was not inactivating registrants who failed the audit and was not referring these cases to her district attorney. Jeffreys admitted to the Wisconsin Election Commission (WEC) that she was not following the law because of “a lack of awareness.”

PILF will do a similar investigation after the 2024 election to ensure that people who abuse the Election Day Registration process are referred to prosecutors.

“We are putting election officials and bad actors who seek to abuse the Election Day Registration process on notice,” said PILF President J. Christian Adams. “PILF will conduct a full investigation after the 2024 election to ensure election officials performed the mandatory audit of all addresses provided at the polls on Election Day. If we find out that any election officials did not follow the law, we will take legal action.”

The Foundation has an ongoing lawsuit against WEC for concealing records relating to the creation of Election Day Registration guidance to election officials.

Read J. Christian Adam’s full op-ed in Wisconsin Right Now here.

Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) is the nation’s only public interest law firm dedicated wholly to election integrity. The Foundation exists to assist states and others to aid the cause of election integrity and fight against lawlessness in American elections. Drawing on numerous experts in the field, PILF seeks to protect the right to vote and preserve the Constitutional framework of American elections. PILF has brought lawsuits and won victories in Texas, Mississippi, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and across the United States.

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