Wisconsin Safe Voting Plan |
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News |
Written by Green Bay Mayor's Office Press |
Monday, 06 July 2020 15:05 |
http://newiprogressive.com/images/stories/S5/coronavirus-voting-us-abcnews-s5.jpg WISCONSIN - The mayors of Wisconsin’s five largest cities announced Monday they have successfully secured a combined $6.3 million in nonprofit grants to fund the “Wisconsin Safe Voting Plan.” The grants, awarded by the nonpartisan Center for Tech and Civic Life (CTCL), will help each municipality administer elections this year in the midst of the deadly coronavirus pandemic. The Wisconsin spring election -- in which voters were subjected to exposure to a dangerous virus, and municipalities scrambled to conduct safe elections -- presented a cautionary tale of precisely how not to run an election during an outbreak of a lethal disease.[i] The national recession that accompanied the pandemic has now caused devastating budget gaps for municipalities across the country. State and local governments around the nation are now grappling with yawning and unexpected deficits, raising the serious prospect of deep and difficult cuts to core services.[ii] As a result, municipalities are struggling with how to conduct safe and accessible elections -- especially if as predicted a second wave of coronavirus erupts this fall. Already, several states are experiencing spikes in coronavirus cases as the first wave of COVID-19 continues to rage across the country. And according to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel on 7/2/20 -- “the coronavirus is accelerating again in Wisconsin with 20% of the state’s total cases having been reported in the last two weeks, state public health officials announced Thursday.”[iii] To meet this extraordinary challenge, the cities of Milwaukee, Madison, Green Bay, Racine and Kenosha have applied for grant funds from CTCL to create the “Wisconsin Safe Voting Plan” and support elections operations. This grant program will enable municipalities to prepare for and operate safe elections by investing in priorities that would otherwise be very challenging to accomplish -- such as securely opening an adequate number of voting sites; setting up drive-thru and drop box locations; providing PPE for poll workers; and recruiting and training a sufficient number of poll workers. The “Wisconsin Safe Voting Plan” grant applications have been approved in full by CTCL and will soon be awarded to each municipality. Some of the jurisdictions may require approval from their respective city councils to accept the grants. "The deadly COVID-19 pandemic has triggered a global public health crisis, and seriously impaired the ability of local governments to administer safe and smooth elections,” said Racine Mayor Cory Mason. “These grants will help each municipality make investments that will ensure smooth, safe and healthy elections in a time of a national health pandemic -- which each municipality otherwise would struggle to do while facing an intense budget shortfall.”
“Through an extraordinary effort, Madison was able to pull off a safe election in April, but we spent hundreds of thousands of dollars we hadn’t budgeted doing so,” said Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway. “As we have seen in Wisconsin and across the nation, COVID-19 is not gone; in fact, it’s getting worse in some places. If we are going to meet our obligations as elected leaders to ensure the safe administration of elections during this pandemic, we have to think differently and bring in help where we can. These valuable resources will go a long way to running successful elections this year.”
“These smart investments will allow us to increase safety without burdening taxpayers,” said Kenosha Mayor John Antaramian. “This is exactly the kind of project that city governments need to pursue in the midst of a pandemic that is still threatening lives.” "As a representative of over 100 central city churches, I am proud to be a part of this citywide effort to create a safe and accessible voting process for November 2020,” said Reverend Greg Lewis, Executive Director of Souls to the Polls. “The Black community has been hard hit by the COVID 19, I myself was hospitalized and we have lost hundreds of Black lives to this virus. It is literally a matter of life and death that our people can vote without risking our health.” The Center for Tech and Civic Life is a nationally-recognized, nonpartisan 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization of civic technologists, trainers, researchers, election administration and data experts working to help modernize U.S. elections. CTCL connects election officials with guidance, expertise, tools, and trainings so they can best serve their communities, and ensure that elections are more professional, safe, and secure. CTCL works with the federal government, as well as local and state governments of all sizes across the nation and regardless of partisanship to highlight best practices, create easy-to-use resources for administrators, and develop infrastructure to better operate elections.[iv]
SUMMARY OF GRANTS Total by Municipality: City of Milwaukee: $2,154,500 City of Madison: $1,271,788 City of Green Bay: $1,093,400 City of Kenosha: $862,779 City of Racine: $942,100 Total by Use: Support Early In-Person Voting and Vote by Mail: $2,572,839 --Expand the number of in-person Early Voting sites (Including Curbside Voting). --Provide assistance to help voters comply with absentee ballot requests and certification requirements. --Utilize secure drop-boxes to facilitate return of absentee ballots. --Deploy additional staff and/or technology improvements to expedite and improve accuracy of absentee ballot processing.
Launch Poll Worker Recruitment, Training & Safety Efforts: $1,810,028 --Recruit and hire a sufficient number of poll workers and inspectors to ensure poll sites properly staffed during virus outbreak, utilizing hazard pay where required. --Provide voting facilities with funds to compensate for increased site cleaning and sanitization costs. Provide updated training for current and new poll workers administering elections in midst of pandemic.
Ensure Safe, Efficient Election Day Administration: $876,700 --Procure Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and personal disinfectant to protect election officials and voters from coronavirus. --Support and expand drive-thru voting on election day, including covering additional unbudgeted expenses for signage, tents, traffic control, and safety measures.
Expand Voter Education & Outreach Efforts: $1,065,000 --Outreach to remind voters to verify and update their address, or other voter registration information, prior to the election. # # # [i] https://twitter.com/wisconsinwatch/status/1275933511753641985?s=11 [ii] https://twitter.com/compujeramey/status/1278331759822856192?s=12 [iii] https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/local/wisconsin/2020/07/02/twenty-percent-all-virus-cases-wisconsin-reported-last-two-weeks/5357805002/ [iv] https://www.techandciviclife.org/ |
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