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Voter ID, Candidate Withdrawal, and Public Records
There will only be one new election law in Wisconsin that will have a big impact on elections in the state in the new year. But there are some other changes that will also begin when the calendar flips to 2026.
The Wisconsin Elections Commission last week sent a notice to clerks across the state reminding them of the new rules, regulations, and laws for the new year.
One of the biggest changes is a new law that is not an election law at all, WEC noted.
"A new provision of Wisconsin public records law will go into effect that requires records custodians to withhold the personally protected information of election officials upon a written request from those officials. This is a change in public records law, not election law, but it involves many records that are maintained by county and municipal clerks," the commission wrote.
Wisconsin’s biggest new election law is a change that allows candidates to remove themselves from the ballot up to a week before the primary election.
That law came about after Robert F Kennedy Jr tried to drop his name from the ballot in November of 2024.
There is also a technical change law that reforms how towns can fill vacant clerk positions.
WEC also notes that Wisconsin voters approved a voter ID constitutional amendment last spring. It goes into effect in 2026.
"In April, voters approved a constitutional amendment to enshrine the state’s photo identification requirement to the Wisconsin constitution. While the ID requirement has been in place since 2016, the move cements the requirement in the state constitution," the commission wrote.
There are also three new election rules that will go into effect in the new year. One allows some candidates to skip their addresses on campaign paperwork, the other imposes a statewide requirement for voting and ballot instructions, and the third lays out a process for ballot access challenges.
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