WEC Newsletter
Volume IV, Issue I
January 26, 2024
No Statewide Primary for Spring Election
Local Primaries Still in Play
Staff are available to assist clerks
We know that in the heart of an election season, issues and questions aren't always limited to normal business hours, especially for part-time clerks with other obligations.
That's why the WEC will be open for extended hours in the days leading up to and after the General Election. Staff will be available to assist clerks until 6 p.m. starting on Friday before the election with some weekend email coverage. More details to come soon.
Call For Submissions:
Share Your Election Stories!
We want to hear from YOU! As we roll out the next volume of the WEC Newsletter we want to feature more compelling and insightful stories from clerks around Wisconsin.
📚 Do you have a success story that made a significant impact on your community?
🤔 Faced a unique challenge and found an innovative solution?
📚 Implemented a creative initiative that deserves recognition?
Submission Guidelines:
- Stories should be related to election management, challenges, successes, and innovations.
- Keep it concise and engaging – aim for a 300-500 word range.
- Feel free to include relevant visuals or infographics to enhance your narrative.
- Submit your ideas via email – with the subject line Election Stories – to [email protected].
Selected stories may be featured in our upcoming newsletters, providing valuable insights and inspiration to election workers statewide.
Commission Approves Revised Uniform Instructions
New design of form found favorable through testing process
After months of testing and tweaking the Uniform Instructions for Wisconsin absentee voters, the Commission approved a revised set of instructions during a special meeting on Dec. 19, 2023.
WEC staff spent about six weeks in the summer and fall of 2023 doing usability testing on the revised instructions. Testing was done through in-person sessions at various locations around the state, and through remote testing with volunteer voters through the mail.
Overall, the testing feedback was positive, with volunteers concluding the revised form was a marked improvement.
The primary changes to the Uniform Instructions involved tweaks to the design, layout and typography, making it easier for users to follow along and navigate the form.
Based on the Commission’s approval, the revised Uniform Instructions are in place for the 2024 election cycle. A sample of the new form can be found here.
Cyber Security News
OPSWAT & Endpoint Testing
What is endpoint testing?
Endpoint testing is the evaluation of devices’ cyber health when they connect to a network, to prevent cyber-attacks.
Why install endpoint testing software?
This software ensures election officials’ workstations are secure when accessing critical election records, maintaining the safety of Wisconsin’s elections.
Endpoint testing functions:
- Assesses operating system and its updates, antivirus status and scans, and device's infection status
- Provides a report to help handle potential cyber threats
Endpoint testing does not:
- Interfere with regular computer use, access file content, or monitor your computer usage.
Without endpoint testing software:
- Devices lacking this software won't access WisVote.
What is OPSWAT?
OPSWAT MetaDefender is Wisconsin’s endpoint testing software.
OPSWAT Changing Names
The OPSWAT MetaAccess monitoring client that WisVote users are required to install will be changing names in January to better fit the company’s branding scheme. MetaAccess will now be known as “MetaDefender IT-OT Access” and the actual client users install will no longer be called “OPSWAT client” and will instead be called “MetaDefender Endpoint”. This is a purely cosmetic change that will have no impact on functionality.
CISA Invoice Scams
Although we have not yet heard reports of clerks receiving these, we do encourage clerks to take advantage of CISA’s security programs and would like to remind you that all of CISA’s offerings are free to state, local, tribal, and territorial governments and to be on the lookout for similar scams.
COME SEE WHAT THE FUSS IS ALL ABOUT!
The next virtual tabletop exercise is scheduled for February 5 at 10 a.m.
ElectEd Updates
We appreciate your efforts in logging into ElectEd. Here's an update on common issues:
Poll Worker Activation:
If you submitted a poll worker list before December 26, accounts were created for them and those accounts are managed by the clerk.
WisVote Users:
WisVote users should go to electiontraining.wi.gov/user and click "Login with Active Directory" and enter WisVote credentials on the next page.
If you need to take WisVote training submit an EL-365 to request access to ElectEd and WEC staff will create your account.
Non-WisVote Users:
If you have not yet logged into ElectEd, please submit an EL-365
Adding Poll Workers and Chief Inspectors:
Clerks needing to add poll workers and chief inspectors should refer to the ElectEd Orientation training video.
Please let your poll workers know when you add them so they don’t mark the email from ElectEd as spam.
Training Migration:
If you completed training in TLC between January 1 and when ElectEd went live, manually enter it in ElectEd as offline training hours. Instructions are in the ElectEd Orientation training.
Multiple Municipalities: If you are a clerk for multiple municipalities, please reach out to be added to both.
Direct questions to [email protected] with "ElectEd" in the subject line.
A few additional tips, tricks, and things to keep in mind:
- Take the ElectEd Orientation training to get an idea of how to use the system
- Register and join us in the ElectEd micro-trainings for a deeper dive into ElectEd functions
We are aware of some ongoing issues and have tickets in to get the following fixed:
- Poll workers being enrolled in trainings the clerks enroll in
- An inability to join a training from user home pages
- An inability to go back to a specific module/activity in a completed training
.Gov Subgrant Applications Due Soon
When local governments send election information to voters it should be obvious that the information is from an official source. To facilitate that, WEC is offering municipalities up to a $600 reimbursement to establish a .gov or wi.gov email domain.
Municipalities that have not already received this subgrant need to act quickly, however, as the deadline to apply for the 2023 HAVA Election Security .gov Email Domain Subgrant is January 31, 2024.
This funding covers up to $600 of expenses related to establishing a .gov or wi.gov email domain and is open to any municipality that has not previously received funding under this subgrant (counties are not eligible). If you missed the earlier deadline, this is your chance to submit an application.
Note: The process to request a wi.gov address has changed. Municipalities will work directly with the Wisconsin Department of Administration's Division of Enterprise Technology (DET) to request wi.gov domains and modify domain name system (DNS) records as needed.
What this means for you: Previously, WEC staff processed domain requests by submitting service requests to DET on a municipality’s behalf. Now, municipalities request wi.gov domain names directly from DET. Municipalities that already have wi.gov domains will follow this process to add or delete DNS records as needed.
Refer to the updated procedures here.
Wisconsin’s Clerks Weigh In on WEC Communications/Training
WEC staff members will be considering changes to the ways in which we share information with clerks and offer clerk training after many of you recently participated in an agency survey on those topics.
And here’s a hearty “Thank You!” to the nearly 900 clerks who completed the survey. Most respondents indicated they like the current level of communications and training they are receiving from WEC. In addition, a majority favored emailed Clerk Communications as their primary method for gleaning election news and updates provided by WEC.
The 2024 WEC Planning Committee sent surveys to clerks late last year, with a response deadline at the end of December. We were very pleased with the level of participation, with 67 county clerks and 819 municipal clerks returning surveys.
Upon review and analysis of the surveys, the biggest takeaways included the fact that 80 percent of clerks told us the amount of information they are getting from WEC is “just right.” Most clerks, at 58 percent, told us their primary method of accessing election news/communications is via emailed Clerk Communications.
In second place, 13 percent said the WEC website was the primary place they used to find information. And very close to that number, 11.6 percent of municipal clerks, marked the WEC Newsletter at their top place for getting information, while only 3 percent of county clerks indicated the same.
On a scale of 5, both municipal and county clerks said the newsletter was helpful, with an average score of 3.6.
When it comes to training, 75 percent of respondents let us know they are interested in Zoom calls structured around broad elections topics where clerks can discuss questions with WEC staff. Survey results show that a good number of you are currently looking to use these calls to access more knowledge about the new learning management system (LMS), absentee voting, and Election Night processes.
Many clerks also indicated they would like to see these calls recorded to accommodate those who are unable to participate at the time the calls are offered. According to survey results, clerks commonly spend one to two hours a month in training.
We also learned from the surveys that one in four clerks will be administering their first presidential election this year. We look forward to assisting all clerks as we move deeper into the 2024 election cycle.
In light of the survey results, WEC staff will soon be meeting with clerk association leaders about ways we might adjust our communication practices and training efforts with clerks as we move into the important months ahead.
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. Click on the "Find My Clerk" link in the footer and enter a local address.
Also, as a matter of routine, please keep the WEC Helpdesk aware of any incoming staff members who need WisVote access, or outgoing staff members whose access should be removed, and the dates to change their access.
Please contact the WEC Helpdesk if you have any questions.
Training, Peer Support Builds Confidence
Town of Milton’s New Clerk Preps for 2024 Election Cycle
When it comes to administering elections, Tiffany “Tif” Chinn-Barsness is a rookie stepping to the plate for the first time, so she is naturally just a little nervous.
However, the Town of Milton clerk/treasurer also feels well prepared and confident heading into the 2024 election cycle, thanks to excellent training opportunities at both the state and county level.
“When I think of the moving pieces, I’m amazed,” said Chinn-Barsness. “It’s a testament to Wisconsin’s commitment to community, communications, expectations, integrity, and transparency.
“By providing clerks and election workers consistent, meaningful, engaging, and relative training we’ve created a system.”
Clerks are tenacious, multifaceted, integral members of our community. They maintain, monitor, and facilitate many community needs, perhaps the most pivotal of which is insuring an accurate and effective electoral process.”
-- Tiffany Chinn-Barsness
In June of 2023 she wrapped up her career as a special education teacher at Oregon (WI) High School, after being recruited by Town of Milton board members to apply for the open clerk/treasurer position.
The mother of three children (ages 21, 15, and 5) took the leap of faith.
“I get to be equitable and accessible in the community that I live in and I’m available to my children as needed, and that is something that at this point is really important to me, so I accepted the position.”
Prior to being an educator, Chinn-Barsness was a bank supervisor. She said both of her former careers prepared her well for this new professional journey.
“Both of those roles, you had to develop trust before you could really develop relationships … and I mean there were other aspects as well -- being able to maintain confidentiality, presenting and respecting people -- but at the end of the day, it’s all trust. And it’s standing by what you’re doing,” she said.
Chinn-Barsness is also a fan of problem-solving, figuring out puzzles, and leaning on her background in finance. She utilizes all of the skillsets she has in serving a growing township of more than 3,000 Rock County residents.
Prior to accepting the Town of Milton job in June of 2023, she had no election experience. Not a problem. In her first six months in the new role she has received quite an education, logging more than 30 training hours by the end of December. She says the WEC staff and Rock County Clerk Lisa Tollefson have contributed to her growing base of knowledge.
Tollefson has been outstanding, said Chinn-Barness, not just “shoving” information at fellow clerks, but “taking the time to break it down, to make it relatable, and give us stories about why we need to be knowledgeable.”
Chinn-Barsness has particularly appreciated “tabletop exercises” where clerks really have time to brainstorm. “Yes, we could do that. But what if we do this?” She says that in those moments of discussion with colleagues “you have collaboration. You have growth.”
She said the training opportunities bolster her confidence and provide needed support.
“At the end of the day, I have an entire army of people I can call on and say, ‘help,’” said Chinn-Barsness. She said having those resources to call on is fantastic, just knowing there is always someone there to help.
“The Wisconsin voting process is meant to and will provide reflective voting, with the utmost assurance of security, soundness, efficiency, and most of all undeniable accountability.”
-- Tiffany Chinn-Barsness
“We are able to serve our communities and electors from the ground up and that is something that I am proud to be a part of,” she said.
Chinn-Barsness knows very well that clerks will be under the microscope again in 2024, and that there will be stressful moments ahead. That’s “essentially expected with the dynamics of our world today,” she said. “But I wholeheartedly believe that with the support from clerk fellowship, a proven system, data, and a little blood, sweat and tears, the clerks of this state are going to stand proud.”
Upcoming Dates & Deadlines
Upcoming Events
- January 30, 2024 – Municipal Clerks to send absentee ballots for Spring Primary
- February 28, 2024 – Webinar: 2024 April & Presidential Preference Election
- May 1, 2024 – Webinar: Spring Elections Wrap-Up
Upcoming Commission Meetings
- February 8, 2024: Quarterly Meeting
- June 10, 2024: Ballot Access Meeting
- June 27, 2024: Quarterly Meeting
Upcoming Elections
- February 20, 2024 – Spring Primary (where applicable)
- April 2, 2024 – Spring Election & Presidential Preference Primary
- August 13, 2024 – Primary Election
- November 5, 2024 – General Election
Recent Clerk Communications
- January 19, 2024 – Certification of Referendum Question and Type A Notice of Referendum for the April 2, 2024 Spring Election
- January 5, 2024 – Municipal Clerk Training Report Posted for 2022-2023 Term
- December 27, 2023 – Commission Approves Revised Uniform Absentee Ballot Instructions
- December 20, 2023 – Recent Advisory Opinions of the Commission
- December 20, 2023 – 2023 ERIC Movers Review Process - Quarter 4