Questions about the upcoming election? State, local experts provide answers at forum tonight on WIZM

The ever-changing dynamic of voting in Wisconsin took another turn Monday, when a federal judge ruled mail-in ballots can be returned up to six days after the November 3rd election — as long as they’re postmarked by election day.

A forum called the Vote Safe Project, beginning at 7 p.m. tonight on WIZM, could clear up some confusion when it comes to voting in Wisconsin.

“There’s just a lot of questions people have: ‘What’s fact? What’s fiction?  What’s going to affect my ability as a voter to vote in a way that I feel is safe?’” Lee Rasch said Monday on La Crosse Talk PM.

INTERACT WITH THE VOTE SAFE PROJECT
WATCH: At 7 p.m. on WIZM by clicking here.
LISTEN: Online here, or on the radio at 92.3 FM / 1410 AM, or download the WIZM App.
EMAIL: Questions to [email protected]
TEXT: Questions to 608.785.7914

The LeaderEthics-Wisconsin executive director will be the first in the four-part series. Rasch admits, however, it’s the last three segments that will be of most interest.

Segment two includes Wisconsin Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul, and former state Attorney General, Republican JB Van Hollen on trusting the voting process.

The third segment will feature Reid Magney with the Wisconsin Elections Commission, along with La Crosse County clerk Ginny Dankmeyer about what the La Crosse area is doing to ensure the integrity of each vote.

“I’m thinking those two segments are going to be pretty important just to a lot of people,” Rasch said. “The laws are the laws and that’s why we’re getting some good information from people who are knowledgeable about this. 

“They’ll tell us what they think that is likely to occur and, as voters, what we should do, so that we don’t get caught up in that. Certainly, if we vote early, we’re going to be able to take practices in our own hands. If we wait, then we’re potentially getting ourselves caught up in this process.”

Absentee ballots, vote by mail, voting during a pandemic, misinformation, social media’s role, voter fraud — those are just a few things that could be covered. Viewers are also able to bring up their questions surrounding voting in the fourth segment — a Q&A hosted by WIZM’s Scott Robert Shaw.

“There’s just information that is floating around through social media that is really causing anxiety,” Rasch said. “We want to hear from people who are really knowledgeable and they’re going to talk about what we’re doing in Wisconsin, what they’re goals are and how they’re approaching it, so that, hopefully, common sense can prevail.”

That panel may have even crammed some last night, with the vote-by-mail deadline extended past Nov. 3. 

“States that have been doing voting by mail for a number of years have not found that to be significantly favoring either party or that there’s any problem with the accuracy,” Rasch said. “But when you have a lot of new voting, by that process, for some states, there could be glitches. I think that’s what people are wondering about, and so I think that’s (what) our experts will cover there.”