When there is a heated, or thought provoking, discussion on election integrity most comments could be classified under ten or a dozen topics. These topics, turned into questions, might include the following. Why should Washington, D.C. be the 51st state? What is the SAVE Act? What is NPVIC (National Popular Vote Interstate Compact)? Who wants to abolish the Electoral College? Why is ACT BLUE (the Democrat Party fund raising apparatus) under investigation?

A significant question in Wisconsin might be about the impact of Governor Evers on election integrity. This can be further split into what legislation has he vetoed, what is the impact of his new legislative maps, and what about his leadership of the Wisconsin Democrats?

This past April State Representative Jerry O’Connor (R-52nd) compiled information on Governor Evers’ vetoes in the 2023-2024 Legislative Session. To lend authenticity to this project, Rep. O’Connor is a retired bank CEO and former real estate broker, insurance agent, and real estate developer. He is completing his first term. The 52nd Assembly District includes the City of Fond du Lac and two villages and a township south and west of the city.

As Representative O’Connor pointed out, evaluating the focus of a governor’s vetoes can project one’s priorities. In the 2023-2024 legislative session Governor Evers vetoed 73 bills and the single, largest category was “Election Integrity Safeguards” with 9 vetoes (12.3%). This was followed by “DNR/ Gun / Hunting Rights” (think 2nd Amendment) with 8 vetoes (11.0%). That means almost 25% of his vetoes concerned the 1st & 2nd Amendments to the U.S. Constitution! Several other categories had six or seven bills vetoed.

Representative O’Connor concluded: “He uses the veto pen and Executive Orders in a dictatorial style. He overrides the elected legislators who represent the majority of Wisconsin voters. His latest tool is to use the liberal Supreme Court to execute the bidding of the left. This is not how government should work. We need change in Madison.”

One place where the destructive Democrats used the liberal Wisconsin Supreme Court was overturning the previously approved legislative maps. After much name calling and finger pointing, the Legislature adopted the maps drawn by Governor Evers even though they trashed the Coulee Region. Currently the 95th District is mostly equivalent to the City of La Crosse and the 94th is basically the rest of La Crosse County. With the new maps, three Assembly Districts reach into the City of La Crosse, the 94th reaches into Trempealeau County, the 95th stretches to Sparta and Cashton in Monroe County, and the 96th reaches into the city as well but no longer represents any of Monroe County. This “gerrymandering” to mix some liberal city population into rural conservative districts does not comply with the intent of the law. But, this is what Governor Evers drew and the Legislature approved. It would be hard to challenge in court as the Wisconsin Supreme Court has already approved it and the 2024 elections are based on it.

Representative O’Connor also made another chart last spring. He titled this one “How Would You Fundamentally Change Wisconsin if you were a Woke Liberal?” When Rep. O’Connor made the chart last April he stated “Their number one priority has been to de-construct the voting maps in Wisconsin in a fashion that will give the democrats a legislative majority”. (As noted in the previous paragraph, this was done.)

The chart shows the twelve categories of “The Woke Agenda for Wisconsin based on bills Democrats introduced in the current legislative session”. There were 285 total bills introduced (at the time the chart was made). The “hot topic” was abortion (42 or 14.7%) followed by Badgercare expansion and miscellaneous healthcare (26 or 9.1%), Climate Change Mandates (24 or 8.4%), Colleges and Universities (19 or 6.7%), DEI Initiatives (18 or 6.3%) and, finally, both Election Integrity (17 or 6.0%) and Euthanasia for Anyone over 18 (17 or 6%). K-12 Education was close behind (16 or 5.6%). Three more categories were in the mid- to high-single digits (Law Enforcement, Attack on Gun Owner Rights, and School Choice Restrictions) followed by 85 more classified as “Vaccination Controls, Other socialist / centeral government liberal wish list”.

Governor Evers is the titular leader of the Democratic Party and as such he is responsible for the information in the last paragraph. Based on bills introduced, election integrity is only number six on their priority list – right after DEI initiatives and tied with Euthanasia for anyone over 18!

Having identified the significant impact of Governor Evers on election integrity the question becomes what can we do about it? Governor Evers isn’t on the ballot so we can’t vote him out of office. We can, however, vote for conservative Republicans in all the legislative election contests. There are 99 State Representatives and 16 State Senators on the ballots across Wisconsin. In the Coulee Region, the 96th District Representative Loren Oldenburg is the only Republican incumbent. The 32nd District State Senator is a career government bureaucrat and the Representatives in the 94th and 95th Districts are both career politicians. The 32nd State Senate candidate, Stacey Klein, the 94th candidate Ryan Huebsch, and the 95th candidate Cedric Schnitzler are all excellent conservative candidates that will take a fresh perspective representing “we the people” to Madison. Vote for these four candidates and you too can make an impact on election integrity! “We need change in Madison.”