Webinar: WisVote Voter Records

Tuesday, July 18, 2023, from 10-11 a.m.

Voter registrations have many sources and different requirements, depending on where they are coming from and who is submitting them.

This webinar will take an in-depth look at voter registration in WisVote, including the importance of entering information correctly and how each registration type should be handled.

What is that thing at the State Capitol?

Phrygian Hats and Gold Orbs

How much does Wisconsin value free and fair elections? Well, that point is made in a large way for the world to see among the artful murals that don the rotunda in our wonderful State Capitol building.

Among the many stunning aspects of Wisconsin’s heralded Capitol are the glass mosaics which are placed between the arches in the rotunda. Each mosaic consists of approximately 100,000 pieces of glass tile. The four themes offered by designer Kenyon Cox, who also painted murals for the Library of Congress and the capitol buildings in Iowa and Minnesota, represent the three branches of government – legislative, executive and judiciary – along with “Liberty,” billed as the foundation of all power in a free country. “Liberty” is represented as a young woman wearing the traditional Phrygian cap of red, but is otherwise dressed in two shades of green, the color of youth and hope.

The “Liberty” image is perhaps extra special to election officials in Wisconsin because her right hand guards the ballot box of the time – a clear glass bowl – while her left hand points upward. The next time you visit the Capitol, perhaps give a nod to “Liberty” and the election mission she represents. (Source: tours.Wisconsin.gov).

Congrats to 23 polling places on their accessibility scores!

Ensuring that all polling places are accessible and available to all voters is a key part of the mission for the Wisconsin Elections Commission. As such, the WEC would like to thank clerks around the state for your dedication and commitment to making your polling places accessible to elderly voters and voters with disabilities.

The WEC’s Polling Place Review Program reviewed over 550 polling places in 2022 and 2023. The survey that reviewers complete has questions related to building standards set by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and requirements in federal and state election law.

There were 23 polling places that received perfect scores from our review teams. Congrats especially to those 23 clerks and their teams:

Perfect Scores

Make Sure Voters Can Find You!

Check your staff info on MyVote

Maintaining your contact information and staff list in WisVote is crucial for ensuring that voters can contact your office and that only active election officials have access to this sensitive database. You can easily verify that your municipality's clerk contact information is correct by using MyVote. Just go to the footer and click on the "Find My Clerk" link and enter a local address.

Also, as a matter of routine, please keep the WEC Helpdesk aware of any incoming or outgoing staff members who need WisVote access and the dates when they will need to have their access changed.

Please contact the WEC Helpdesk if you have any questions about your staff's credentials for WisVote.

Photo by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration via Creative Commons. Eastern Wisconsin from Space, 1994.

On the Road...Again: WEC Is Still Talking Absentee Envelopes and Badger Books

Based on an overwhelming level of interest in the absentee envelope redesign project and our ongoing Badger Book initiative, WEC staff are hitting the road again. We are looking for clerks and poll workers to join us in Green Bay, Wescott, Colby, and Lake Delton in mid-July. Please come out to see the new absentee envelope design and give us your feedback. Afterwards, stick around for the Badger Book open house. For clerks curious about the BB program, this will be a great opportunity to learn more.

This will be the last opportunity for clerks and other election officials to give us their feedback on the new absentee envelope redesign! These will also be the last Badger Book open houses for 2023. For the fall, the team will be shifting to providing Intro to Badger Books training.

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New county clerk embraces her role and the relationships that come with it

Clerk Feature: Kaci Jo Lundgren

There were a lot of new faces to learn and plenty of new connections to make for Douglas County Clerk Kaci Jo Lundgren at a Wisconsin County Clerks Association Conference held recently in Wausau.

As a newly minted clerk who took on the role at the start of 2023, the statewide conference was the first time she got to meet the state’s 71 other county clerks.

“I love it. Everybody does things a little bit differently so it’s interesting to see the other perspectives and processes that everybody uses, and I’m just taking it all in and seeing what changes I can implement when I get back,” Lundgren said during an interview while attending the conference.

A Superior native, she first felt a call to work at the Douglas County Clerk’s Office in her hometown in 2012 when she started as an office associate.

“I’ve always been an extrovert,” Lundgren said. “And I’ve always wanted to be an inspiration to people, and working in government, I’ve realized that I can be that by providing that service and just sharing what I know and helping along the way.”

She worked her way up to the role of web and technology specialist in the office before taking on her new job this past January. It is one she began prepping for three or four years ago. Former long-time Douglas County Clerk Sue Sandvick realized Lundgren was very serious about following in her footsteps, so she took Lundgren under her wing.

“She had been training me in on everything and kind of laying the foundation for me to have a successful career, hopefully,” Lundgren said with a laugh.

The county board appointed Lundgren to fill out Sandvick’s term when the veteran clerk retired in January. Lundgren is hoping this is the beginning of another long tenure: “I love it. I want to do it for the rest of my life,” she said.

Lundgren learned early on the importance of building strong relationships with county employees and municipal clerks. Those contacts are spread over 21 towns, villages, and the one city named for the lake on which it sits.

“We all work really well together,” Lundgren said of her bond with the municipal clerks. “If there’s a question, we’ll discuss it with one another; we’ll try to find the answer – it’s all about cooperation.”

She has two relatively new employees in her four-person office, one that she is now making her own by implementing more advanced technology and efficiencies. “So, while it’s been rewarding, it’s been a challenge because I’m trying to balance all of that,” she said of coaching new employees while still learning herself.

Among other things, Lundgren is working on a website redesign and adding to web pages that offer more information and news. She’s also looking ahead to 2024 by tweaking her emergency preparedness plan “and reaching out to my municipal clerks and having them revise and look over theirs. We just want to make sure everybody is safe and secure,” she said of the county’s voters.

She knows there will be unforeseen challenges ahead. Already, “new things pop up every day, and I embrace them as they come,” said Lundgren.

She believes she has the foundation to tackle whatever comes, and the right attitude:

“I love people and I love helping the public,” Lundgren said. “That’s one of my favorite things, just being open and transparent about government and what we do, showing the public that government isn’t scary and bad. We’re here to help you.”

Upcoming Dates & Deadlines

July 3, 2023

• Deadline to enter EDR postcard data in WisVote

July 18, 2023

• Webinar: WisVote Voter Records

Upcoming Commission Meetings

• September 20, 2023 – Special Meeting

Upcoming Elections

• February 20, 2024 – Spring Primary (if necessary)
• April 2, 2024 – Spring Election & Presidential Preference Primary
• August 13, 2024 – Primary Election
• November 5, 2024 – General Election