Experts agree: Our elections are safe and secure

It didn’t draw a huge crowd, but an important discussion was held last week in La Crosse. Former members of Congress from both sides of the aisle gathered to assure voters that our election process is safe and secure. Former members of Congress Ron Kind, Tim Petri and Reid Ribble, along with the La Crosse County Clerk, described the process of gathering and counting votes and outlined the safeguards in place to assure that work is done accurately. They unanimously insisted that despite all the misinformation about election security, Wisconsin’ s elections are well run. The state’s election processes are firmly grounded in state statute. The process is overseen by a bipartisan group known as the Wisconsin Elections Commission, and administered by Wisconsin’s 1800 municipal clerks, the most of any state. After the votes are counted, a canvass is conducted to look for any possible errors before the vote is finally certified by the Wisconsin Elections Commission. The system works. Fraud is virtually non-existent, with a total of 30 cases in the past year. Those who committed fraud, either knowingly or otherwise, were caught and their votes thrown out. When you go to cast your ballot in Wisconsin, you can do so knowing that your vote is safe and secure. Those who tell you otherwise are the ones trying to gum up the system.