MADISON — Wisconsin voters in November could decide more than who controls the governor’s office and Legislature. The results may determine whether the state changes how absentee ballots are processed, how voter eligibility is verified and how quickly election results are reported before the 2028 presidential election. For most of the past eight years, Republican lawmakers and Democratic Gov. Tony Evers have blocked one another’s election priorities. Republican-backed voting restrictions have frequently met Evers’ veto pen, while Democratic election bills have generally stalled under GOP legislative control. That could change if one party wins the governor’s office and both chambers of the Legislature — a political arrangement known as a trifecta. Democrats are seeking to keep the governor’s office and capture the Legislature. Republicans are trying to retain legislative control and elect U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany as governor. A unified government would create a clearer path for election legislation, but it would not guarantee sweeping changes. Some of Wisconsin’s most consequential election rules, including voter identification requirements and a ban on private funding for election administration, are now part of the state Constitution. “I don’t see big changes coming in state law, almost regardless of what partisan configuration the state ends up with after the election,” said Barry Burden, a University of Wisconsin-Madison political science professor who leads the university’s Elections Research Center. He said Republicans enacted many of their major priorities during the party’s 2011-18 period of unified control. ### Democratic priorities would focus on election administration With full control of state government, Democrats would likely pursue changes aimed at expanding access and easing the workload for local election officials. Sen. Mark Spreitzer, D-Beloit, said one of the party’s first priorities would be allowing clerks to begin processing absentee ballots on the Monday before Election Day. Wisconsin officials currently cannot take that step until Election Day, a restriction that can contribute to late-night counting and delays in unofficial results. Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, the Democratic nominee for governor, has also endorsed the proposal. He described it as a way to help election workers handle ballots more efficiently while preserving election security. Other Democratic goals include legal protections for absentee ballot drop boxes, expanded ballot tracking, allowing voters to spoil and replace absentee ballots, and statewide standards for correcting mistakes on returned ballots. Democrats also want to eliminate a requirement that officials place identifying numbers on some absentee ballots, which critics say can threaten ballot secrecy and add work for clerks. Spreitzer called those measures relatively achievable because some have attracted bipartisan interest or address practical concerns raised by election administrators. Crowley has also called for increased state funding for municipal and county clerks, who have long cited staffing and resource pressures. A Democratic trifecta could revive proposals to establish automatic voter registration, shorten Wisconsin’s residency requirement and prohibit firearms near polling places. Democrats could also seek to restore voting rights to people convicted of felonies who have completed their sentences but remain on parole. Still, Burden said Democrats would have limited ability to repeal voter ID outright because the requirement is embedded in the Constitution. They could instead seek to broaden the types of identification accepted or otherwise make compliance easier. ### Republicans could push citizenship checks A Republican trifecta would likely build on existing voting restrictions rather than introduce an entirely new framework, Burden said. Wisconsin already has one of the nation’s strictest voter ID laws and requires absentee ballots without a witness address to be rejected. The most prominent area for additional Republican action could be citizenship verification. Lawmakers could seek documentary proof of citizenship for voter registration or require audits comparing state voter records with other government databases. Republicans have already pursued some of those measures. Evers vetoed legislation earlier this year that would have required an audit for noncitizen voters. During legislative testimony in January, Assembly Elections Committee Chair Dave Maxey, R-New Berlin, said he would prefer voting identification to indicate a person’s citizenship status. Tiffany has supported federal legislation requiring documentary proof of citizenship to register for federal elections. He also backed the state’s voter ID law during his time in the Wisconsin Legislature. As a gubernatorial candidate, Tiffany said he would support comparing Department of Transportation records with the statewide voter-registration database to identify people who may be ineligible to vote. Republicans could also revive bills Evers previously rejected, including one that would have barred people with felony convictions from voting until they paid certain court fees. Another proposal would have eliminated a voter ID exemption for people who are indefinitely confined because of age or disability. The Monday ballot-processing proposal could attract broader support. Tiffany has acknowledged the idea but has not clearly stated whether he supports it, while Burden said the measure may have a better chance than more partisan election bills because it has support across much of the political spectrum. ### Courts would remain central If neither party wins unified control, the election-law stalemate that has defined Wisconsin politics since 2018 is likely to continue. Even under a Republican trifecta, Democrats could challenge new laws in the Wisconsin Supreme Court, which has a 5-2 liberal majority. Republicans could pursue challenges in federal court. “With Evers and Republicans in power the last eight years, it’s been mostly stalemate: lots of vetoes, and very little actual lawmaking around elections,” Burden said. “If things were to flip with Tiffany in office and Democrats were to win both chambers — I think that’s unlikely — I would expect more stalemate.” Spreitzer said at least some administrative changes could still move through a divided government, including earlier absentee-ballot processing and removing identifying numbers from the backs of certain absentee ballots. The November results, therefore, may not produce an immediate overhaul of Wisconsin elections. But they could determine which party sets the agenda on voting access, election administration and citizenship rules — and whether clerks and voters see practical changes before the next presidential contest.