Walker Floats Idea Of Making State Elections Board Only Partly Nonpartisan

Gov. Scott Walker says he might support creating a hybrid elections board composed of some partisan appointees and some nonpartisan members.

Right now the governor appoints all six members of the Government Accountability Board from from a pool of nonpartisan former judges. Walker said that in practice, the system gives him a shortlist of names from which to choose, and most have little to no understanding of elections.

Some Republican lawmakers want to move back to a strictly partisan elections board. However, Walker said there might be another option.

“To me, maybe the answer is a hybrid between the two out there,” he said. “You want some objective form, but you don’t want people so objective or viewed as so objective that they don’t have any understanding of how the election process runs.”

Walker also said that “it’s clear that things cannot continue the way they are right now” at the Government Accountability Board, citing an audit that highlighted problems at the agency.