Dueling bills aim to simplify ballot questions for Wisconsin voters

The GOP legislative majority are increasingly governing through constitutional amendments, bypassing the Democratic governor’s veto.

By Annie Pulley, THE BADGER PROJECT

In the November election in Wisconsin, a question on the ballot asked voters if the state’s constitution should be amended to order that “only” American citizens age 18 or older may vote.

Voters approved it with an overwhelming 79%.

But the state constitution already mandated that voters must be adult citizens.

The constitutional amendment changed who can vote in Wisconsin from “Every United States citizen age 18 or older” to “Only a United States citizen age 18 or older.”

The question could have led some voters to think Wisconsin did not already prohibit noncitizen voting, argued the State Democracy Research Initiative at the University of Wisconsin Law School. 

On the same day in April, Democratic and Republican lawmakers in the state capitol proposed legislation aimed at simplifying ballot questions.

Democratic lawmakers announced a bill that would try to ensure ballot questions are written in plain language. If the question proposes a constitutional amendment, the bill would require it to indicate if any part of the amendment already exists in state statute.

State law already mandates that ballot questions be written concisely, but it does not require they be easily understandable for the general public. 

The Republican version of the bill would require statewide ballot questions contain a disclosure notice including the full text of the ballot question or proposed amendment; a plain language summary of the current law if applicable; and an explanation in plain language of the effect of a “yes” or “no” vote.

“With very few exceptions, every voter, like me, has asked this question while standing in line to vote: ‘Why don’t they write the constitutional referendum questions in plain English?” said Rep. Jerry O’Connor (R-Fond du Lac), who introduced the Republican bill, in a press release.

Between 2015 and 2023, Wisconsin voters had the chance to weigh in on five constitutional amendments. In 2024 alone, voters saw another five amendments on their ballots, and the top Republican in the state has called for more. 

“Over the years, we have seen these questions coming more and more, and it’s usually an attempt to go around the governor,” said Rep. Deb Andraca (D-Whitefish Bay), who was one of three to announce the Democrat-sponsored ballot questions bill.

Anything the Wisconsin State Senate and Assembly do by legislation can be vetoed.

“We have seen an escalating use of constitutional amendments since the election of Gov. Evers,” said Anthony Chergosky, a political science professor at UW–La Crosse. So “the context of the legislation is interesting.”

In Wisconsin, both chambers of the state Legislature must vote to approve a constitutional amendment in consecutive 2-year sessions. If successful, the amendment goes to the voters on ballots for their approval or rejection. Amendments are not subject to the governor’s veto or signature.

Republicans have held majorities in the Legislature since 2011 and Evers has consistently threatened to use his veto pen since his election in 2018. And in a political atmosphere of divided government and polarization, they have turned to constitutional amendments, Chergosky explained.

After voters rejected two constitutional amendments in the state primary election last August, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) told The Cap Times that the state Legislature should “double down” and continue to add amendments to ballots. 

Vos and his office did not answer questions for this story despite repeated requests.

About 23 states have some sort of plain language requirements for their ballot measures, and in Wisconsin, ballot measures require an average of 18 years of education to comprehend, according to Ballotpedia analyses.

About 33% of Wisconsin residents 25 years and older have at least a bachelor’s degree, according to the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities.

Since 1848, state voters have seen 206 amendments appear on their ballots, according to Madeline Kasper, a managing analyst with the Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau. Of those amendments, 152 were ratified. 

“Constitutional amendments can have long-lasting and often surprising implications,” Chergosky noted, pointing to a 1930 amendment that gave the governor the power to partially veto appropriations bills.

Amendments, Chergosky continued, are challenging to reverse and constrain the courts because constitutional interpretation is a “different ball game than statutory interpretation,” he said. “The stakes are high when it comes to changing the constitution. And we have seen that changes to the Wisconsin State Constitution have had significant effects.”

Like all legislation, the bills must first get approved at the committee level before getting a full vote in each house of the state Legislature.

The GOP majority in the state Legislature is unlikely to advance a bill introduced by Democrats. It remains to be seen if the bill introduced by Republicans has enough support to move forward.

The state Legislature sees about 1,500 to 2,000 bills introduced in every two-year session. About a quarter of them will become law, according to a state guide.

The Badger Project is a nonpartisan, citizen-supported journalism nonprofit in Wisconsin.