Here & Now

Investigating Wisconsin’s Election Laws

Frederica Freyberg:

Representative Sanfelippo wants the Elections Committee to dig further into the role of outside election consultants like those who worked in Green Bay in November. He alleges one such consultant was running the central count location in Green Bay. The city’s mayor rejects the allegations and in a statement said this: “The city’s conduct of the election in 2020 has been heavily scrutinized, including being the subject of numerous records requests, news articles and lawsuits. In each case the city’s actions have been upheld. No ballots were ever in the care or custody of these consultants,” the statement said. Why is Green Bay a target of legislative Republicans intent on relitigating allegations of election fraud as they make their way toward changing election laws? We check in with Democratic Representative Kristina Shelton of Green Bay and thanks very much for being here.

Kristina Shelton:

Thank you so much for having me. It’s a great day to talk about voting rights and election integrity.

Frederica Freyberg:

So what is your response to Green Bay’s election count process being a target of a Republican investigation?

Kristina Shelton:

You know, no matter where we come from, our background, the color of our skin or our zip code, we all want fair, free, legitimate, transparent elections that follow election law and uphold our shared values. And what I’ve seen is my fellow Republican colleagues in the Wisconsin State Legislature sow division and divide based on no evidence at this time. What I would like for us to do is get back to work for working families and help people navigate out of the coronavirus. As to their intent, you know, I’m unable to answer their intent because that’s on them. But my job is to legislate based on evidence and I have seen no evidence that we should be taking this any further.

Frederica Freyberg:

So the Elections Committee conducting this probe will be armed with subpoena power to bring people in to testify. What do you make of that?

Kristina Shelton:

Well, I talked to our mayor here and he has assured me that he’s open to working with the campaign and Elections Committee to tell our story. You know, with that committee hearing a few weeks ago, it was very disappointing. No one from our city — I was not invited to participate at all. So it was a one-sided perspective of what happened here. It was very frustrating to the people of Green Bay and to the 90th because our story is very different. People feel very confident about our election and they know that it was legitimate and followed election law.

Frederica Freyberg:

Still, Green Bay did have its issues in the last election cycle. During the April primary, there were long lines as only two of 35 polling places were open. The city didn’t accept the help of the Wisconsin National Guard. Does Green Bay need changes in the administration of elections, in your mind?

Kristina Shelton:

Every community and municipality faced unprecedented challenges during the elections of 2020. And what we saw was difficulty in the April election and we saw our city officials pivot quite beautifully to be able to provide additional polling locations, additional staff and volunteers to be able to ensure that people could vote and still be healthy and safe. And with that additional need came additional costs. And so we saw our community reach out to and apply for grants among other communities here in the state. Hundreds of communities applied for and received funding. And what we would have liked to have seen is a Legislature last year that would have done their job to provide public funding and public monies to be able to do so. When they didn’t, communities had to look elsewhere.

Frederica Freyberg:

So the Legislature as you well know is looking to change election law in Wisconsin, the Republican majority, mostly around tightening up absentee voting. Representative Sanfelippo told me they are not going to do anything that stops people from voting. How do you regard the proposed bills?

Kristina Shelton:

We have a coordinated assault on voting rights here, not just in Green Bay and Wisconsin, but around the country. 43 states have put forward over 250 bills. People need to know this is based on a lack of any evidence. This is an assault on voting rights. We need to engage people in telling the truth and standing up for our democracy. Again, we have so much work on the table that we need to get to for working people. That’s where my priorities are and that’s what I’m going to continue to do in my leadership in the Assembly.

Frederica Freyberg:

All right. We appreciate your time today, Representative Kristina Shelton of Green Bay. Thanks.

Kristina Shelton:

Thank you.