Wisconsin Amendments
The election is Tuesday, Nov. 3.
If you are voting absentee, click here to get tips on how to make sure your ballot gets counted.
See the list of Democratic candidates on the Nov. 3 ballot
The following amendments are on the Nov. 3 ballot:
Prohibit Government Discrimination or Preferential Treatment Amendment
The Amendment: Shall the Wisconsin Constitution be changed to prohibit governmental entities in the state from discriminating against, or granting preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in public employment, public education, public contracting, or public administration?
What it means: Nothing good. Wisconsin and federal law already prohibit discrimination based on race, sex, color, ethnicity, and national origin. What this proposed amendment seeks to accomplish is banning any targeted work by the State to remedy past discrimination or issues in specific communities. If this Amendment passed, any work that directly or indirectly benefited a certain group of people could be declared unconstitutional. A state scholarship for female high school students who finish in the top 5% of their class? No longer allowed. Economic programs to benefit an impoverished zip code in Wisconsin that happens to be predominantly White, Black or Hispanic? Unconstitutional.
You can see the problem.
Recommendation: Vote NO
Exempt Places of Worship from Public Health Rules
The Amendment: Prohibit the state or any political subdivision, such as cities and counties, from ordering the closure of, or forbidding, gatherings in places of worship in response to a state of emergency, including a public health emergency.
What it means: During the previous pandemic, religious services had to transition to remote services or “parking lot sermons” to help keep social distancing and prevent the spread of a communicable disease. Now, the GOP wants a constitutional amendment that would ban the government from enforcing the same public health rules on places of worship during the next outbreak. To be clear, we absolutely and always support the freedom to practice any religion. It is one of the foundational rights of being an American. That freedom of practice, however, does not extend to when that practice harms fellow citizens. Allowing places of worship an exemption from public health rules during a declared pandemic would only accelerate the spread of a communicable disease, which in turn would prolong any outbreak leading to more cases, deaths, and, coincidentally, the societal and economic damage we saw during COVID-19.
Recommendation: Vote NO
Prohibit Partial Veto to Increase Tax or Fee Amendment
The Amendment: Prohibit the governor from using the partial veto to create or increase any tax or fee?
What it means: This is the GOP response to Governor Evers taking executive action in the last budget to fix decades of underfunding in public education. In case you missed it, Governor Evers’ 2023-25 proposed budget included increases to public school funding that would continue after two years. The GOP-controlled legislature rejected the proposal, passing a smaller increase that would end after two years. In response, Evers used his veto authority under the Wisconsin Constitution to change the GOP’s passed budget on his desk to increase education funding from 2 years to 402 years. He accomplished this with the so-called “Frankenstein veto” that has been used by governors of both political parties throughout Wisconsin’s history: deleting certain text and numbers from the GOP-bill to arrive at the result he wanted.
There’s not enough time (or page space) to give a full detailing of the history behind this unique veto power for the governor, so here’s the summary: the Wisconsin Governor has always had the authority, through a partial veto, to create or increase any tax or fee in a budget. And don’t take it from us! In 2025, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled Governor Evers’ veto in the above matter was constitutional.
It’s OK for the GOP to be mad that the Governor won the latest installment of their longstanding political chess match. But it’s not OK to change the Constitution and longstanding executive powers based on a whim.