Wisconsin Administrative Code
Elections Commission
Chapter EL 2 - Election Related Petitions
Section EL 2.05 - Treatment and sufficiency of nomination papers

Universal Citation: WI Admin Code ยง EL 2.05

Current through August 26, 2024

(1) Each candidate for public office has the responsibility to assure that his or her nomination papers are prepared, circulated, signed, and filed in compliance with statutory and other legal requirements.

(2) In order to be timely filed, all nomination papers shall be in the physical possession of the filing officer by the statutory deadline. Each of the nomination papers shall be numbered, before they are filed, and the numbers shall be assigned sequentially, beginning with the number "1". Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, the absence of a page number will not invalidate the signatures on that page.

(3) The filing officer shall review all nomination papers filed with it, up to the maximum number permitted, to determine the facial sufficiency of the papers filed. Where circumstances and the time for review permit, the filing officer may consult maps, directories and other extrinsic evidence to ascertain the correctness and sufficiency of information on a nomination paper.

(4) Any information which appears on a nomination paper is entitled to a presumption of validity. Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, errors in information contained in a nomination paper, committed by either a signer or a circulator, may be corrected by an affidavit of the circulator, an affidavit of the candidate, or an affidavit of a person who signed the nomination paper. The person giving the correcting affidavit shall have personal knowledge of the correct information and the correcting affidavit shall be filed with the filing officer not later than three calendar days after the applicable statutory due date for the nomination papers.

(5) Where any required item of information on a nomination paper is incomplete, the filing officer shall accept the information as complete if there has been substantial compliance with the law.

(6) Nomination papers shall contain at least the minimum required number of signatures from the circuit, county, district or jurisdiction which the candidate seeks to represent.

(7) The filing officer shall accept nomination papers which contain biographical data or campaign advertising. The disclaimer specified in s. 11.1303(2), Stats., is not required on any nomination paper.

(8) An elector shall sign his or her own name unless unable to do so because of physical disability. An elector unable to sign because of physical disability shall be present when another person signs on behalf of the disabled elector and shall specifically authorize the signing.

(9) A person may not sign for his or her spouse, or for any other person, even when they have been given a power of attorney by that person, unless sub. (8) applies.

(10) The signature of a married woman shall be counted when she uses her husband's first name instead of her own.

(11) Only one signature per person for the same office is valid. Where an elector is entitled to vote for more than one candidate for the same office, a person may sign the nomination papers of as many candidates for the same office as the person is entitled to vote for at the election.

(12) A complete address, including municipality of residence for voting purposes, and the street and number, if any, of the residence, (or a postal address if it is located in the jurisdiction that the candidate seeks to represent), shall be listed for each signature on a nomination paper.

(13) A signature shall be counted when identical residential information or dates for different electors are indicated by ditto marks.

(14) No signature on a nomination paper shall be counted unless the elector who circulated the nomination paper completes and signs the certificate of circulator and does so after, not before, the paper is circulated. No signature may be counted when the residency of the circulator cannot be determined by the information given on the nomination paper.

(15) An individual signature on a nomination paper may not be counted when any of the following occur:

(a) The date of the signature is missing, unless the date can be determined by reference to the dates of other signatures on the paper.

(b) The signature is dated after the date of certification contained in the certificate of circulator.

(c) The address of the signer is missing or incomplete, unless residency can be determined by the information provided on the nomination paper.

(d) The signature is that of an individual who is not 18 years of age at the time the paper is signed. An individual who will not be 18 years of age until the subject election is not eligible to sign a nomination paper for that election.

(e) The signature is that of an individual who has been adjudicated not to be a qualified elector on the grounds of incompetency or limited competency as provided in s. 6.03(3), Stats., or is that of an individual who was not, for any other reason, a qualified elector at the time of signing the nomination paper.

(16) After a nomination paper has been filed, no signature may be added or removed. After a nomination paper has been signed, but before it has been filed, a signature may be removed by the circulator. The death of a signer after a nomination paper has been signed does not invalidate the signature.

(17) This section is promulgated pursuant to the direction of s. 8.07, Stats., and is to be used by election officials in determining the validity of all nomination papers and the signatures on those papers.

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