The Election Day and Election Administration Manuals have been updated to better assist clerks and election workers ahead of the many elections in the 2024 cycle. The revised manuals approved by the Wisconsin Elections Commission at its quarterly meeting Thursday, Feb. 8 – provide updates on election processes, legislative and legal updates, current forms, information about Badger Book usage and its impact on certain election procedures, updated accessible voting best practices and resources, and more. They also include more statutory citations and improvements to some formatting issues so that information is clearly presented.
The updated Election Administration and Election Day manuals also reflect the status of new legislation and various court decisions that have impacted election processes in recent years. They include two new sections titled “Spoiling and Replacement Ballots,” which covers a municipal clerk’s ability send a new absentee ballot to a voter when the returned ballot is spoiled or damaged, and “Voter Correction of Incomplete Absentee Certificate Envelopes,” which covers a clerk’s ability to return absentee ballots to voters when there are defects on the certificate envelopes. The revised manuals include guidance updates or process changes that were discussed in various clerk communications issued over the past few years. The revised manuals now consolidate the various pieces of guidance in one resource.
We understand that many clerks have previous versions of the Election Administration and Election Day manuals. To assist clerks in finding what areas of the manual were updated, WEC staff have published redlined versions of the manuals that show the additions and deletions from previous editions of the manuals. Both documents are attached to this communication. WEC staff also plan on having a webinar in the coming weeks to discuss the changes made in the manuals and offer clerks a time to ask questions about the updated topics.
Both manuals can be printed from the WEC website: https://elections.wi.gov/clerks/manuals. Physical manuals can also be ordered for a fee. You can find an order form at https://elections.wi.gov/wec-form/manuals-webinars-order-form. If you have any questions, please contact the WEC Help Desk at @email, or 608-261-2028.