Two important developments occurred this week relating to the integrity of our elections.

First, the Legislature’s Joint Audit Committee met yesterday to discuss and approve a review of the 2020 election by the nonpartisan Legislative Audit Bureau. Many people have expressed to me that they have lost faith in our elections system. This audit will give us the opportunity to examine the facts and work toward ensuring our elections are secure, fair, and transparent. The scope of this audit will examine issues related to:

• Efforts by the Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC) to comply with elections laws, including ensuring accurate voter registration data
• Efforts by clerks to comply with elections laws surrounding absentee ballots, recounts and any other concerns they have observed
• The use of electronic voting systems
• Election-related complaints and how they were addressed

Second, one of the greatest frustrations with the November election was the WEC issuing guidance that ran contrary to state law. Even after the election, they have continued to issue directives to local clerks that violate the law. One example of this is the WEC repeatedly directing local election clerks to prohibit Special Voting Deputies from going to nursing homes, residential care facilities, and retirement homes. These Special Voting Deputies are positions created by state law to help protect some of our most vulnerable citizens from being exploited for political gain.

The WEC has no authority to make such a directive yet continues to do it anyway. As a result, the Joint Committee for Review of Administrative Rules met on Thursday to compel WEC to comply with the law.

I look forward to continuing this work to maintain election integrity.

Earlier this week, I spoke to Interim Department of Health Services Secretary Karen Timberlake. Most of our conversation centered around concerns I have received from many of you about the distribution of the vaccine. I emphasized the importance to have a clear plan to distribute the vaccine effectively and efficiently for all those who want it.

Waukesha County’s Community Clinic will initially focus on vaccinating 1A individuals such as healthcare workers and emergency responders, and certain members of the Phase 1B group as identified by the Department of Health Services. Individuals who fall into those categories will be invited to register and schedule an appointment. This location will not take “drop in” appointments. More information can be found here.

Three Arrowhead High School students, Joshua Otte, Grace Dai, and Teekay Kowalewski, came to the rescue to solve a problem for staff at the Aurora Medical Center in Summit. As part of the school’s robotic team, they developed a laptop phone mount for healthcare workers to use doing virtual patient visits. The mount allows the virtual visit to be streamed on their phones, freeing up the workers computers to do charting. Ingenious!

It’s been so successful that it’s now being sold on Amazon and Etsy and the team is using the money to save for college. Read more about their invention here.

Last week, the Senate passed AB 1, a bill designed to address a number of pending issues relating to COVID-19. Some of the key provisions included making it easier to get a COVID-19 vaccine, providing protection to our communities from frivolous lawsuits, allowing designated loved ones to visit at nursing homes, forcing the governor to take necessary action to help Wisconsinites receive their unemployment benefits, and making available $100 million to address pressing needs.

Unfortunately, Governor Evers vetoed this bill only a couple hours after we passed it. We’re back to the beginning in drafting this legislation.