State Rep. Janel Brandtjen, R-Menominee Falls, is talking about military ballots once again.
Brandtjen on Monday said the Wisconsin Elections Commission has clarified the number of military ballots in the November 2022 election.
“In November of last year, open records requests from the Wisconsin Elections Commission, retrieved by an election integrity watchdog group, showed a substantial drop of military ballots in the November 2022 election. However, we just learned through updated records from WEC that no substantial drop occurred,” Brandtjen said Monday.
Brandtjen said back in late November that the number of military ballots fell by more than 80% in the 2022 election.
“The 2022 active military voters dropped to 1,573 after a 2020 high number of 9,876, 4,966 in 2018 and 6,736 in 2016,” Brandtjen said at the time.
The change, however, seems to be a difference of elections, not the number of military voters.
The 2022 race was a midterm election, which usually has a smaller turnout. The 2020 election was a presidential election, which usually has a higher turnout.
USA Today reported about a week ago that the real military ballot comparison should have been 1,295 in the 2018 midterms to 1,574 in the 2022 race.
Still, Brandtjen said military ballots are vulnerable in Wisconsin.
“Obtaining military ballots online in Wisconsin remains unsecure and provides no confidence that our men and women serving in the military are not being disenfranchised by bad actors,” Brandtjen added. “Active military voters do not require ID or registration, but Wisconsin [law] requires clerks to confirm active military voters via a list… It became clear that there is no existing list to allow clerks to verify names of our overseas military members. The proper security measures should be restored since a deputy clerk in Milwaukee exposed this loophole by sending authentic military ballots to my home, without my knowledge. Active military members and their families should be outraged at the lack of security this breach has caused.”
