Wisconsin Ballot Layout Summary

General Overview

CALL TO ACTION: The Government Accountability Board must immediately reverse
course, returning back to an unbiased and reasonable ballot layout to ensure impartiality
and fairness in the November election. Citizens should call the Government
Accountability Board at 608-266-8005 and demand action.
While attempting to re-configure Wisconsins ballot layout, the GAB Staff engaged in a
rogue crusade to create a ballot that drives their politicized agenda.
The issues with the revised ballot layout epitomize the publics distrust of the
Government Accountability Board and their inept ability to manage the elections
process as a non-partisan entity.
The GAB Staff has attempted to implement a deeply flawed and confusing ballot
layout that will lead to mass confusion for voters across Wisconsin.
The Government Accountability Board was created to manage fair and impartial
elections. They have failed the people of Wisconsin with this blatantly partisan
behavior of ballot manipulation.
In a desperate attempt to disguise their true motive, the Government Accountability
Board employed a partisan liberal who received $19,000 of taxpayer money to
provide a stamp of approval.

Background

The GAB is at it again, deliberately designing an unfair ballot that blatantly benefits
Democrats in every partisan election in Wisconsin.
In their ill-advised attempt to revise the layout of Wisconsins ballot, the GAB Staff led
by Lead Elections Specialist Diane Lowe took matters into their own hands and re-
configured the layout of the ballot without notifying the Legislature or key
stakeholders.
Without a public hearing or time to comment on proposed changes, the GAB Staff has
been immovable in its direction to County Clerks to strictly adhere to the new ballot
layout despite clear flaws in the ballot design.
Despite raising questions and concerns regarding the new ballot layout, County Clerks
have been shut out by the GAB Staff and have not been allowed any discretion in
correcting the ballot layout issues.
o When the Brown County Clerk sought approval for a ballot layout that has been
promoted as the gold standard of ballot designs by industry groups, including the
liberal-leaning Brennan Center for Justice, Brown County Clerk Sandy Juno
was chastised by the GAB Staff who refused to approve a clear and impartial re-
designed ballot.
The GAB Staff has gone rogue in their poor attempt at re-designing the Wisconsin ballot,
and refused to admit their strategic partisan agenda.
When concerns were raised regarding the ballot layout, the GAB Staff immediately
turned responsibility to supposed ballot design expert Dana Chisnell of the Center for
Civic Design (see more below).
Concerns

The revised ballot layout implemented by GAB Staff will mislead voters across
Wisconsin who may mistakenly identify which candidates they can vote for.
The previous ballot layout clearly identified which candidates were seeking which office
by establishing a clear differentiation between the office description and the candidates.
o Disturbingly, there is no separation between the office and the first candidate, but
there is a line that separates the candidates from each other with the exception
of the first candidate.
o To be clear, each office listed is in the same box as the first candidate. Other
candidates on the ballot, beginning with the second candidate, are contained
within their own box.
o Not surprisingly, the first candidate in each election is a Democrat.


























More disturbing, down ballot offices are not clearly separated from the previous office on
the ballot.
o An industry-wide standard is to shade each office to clearly identify which office
each candidate is seeking shown below in an example from the liberal-leaning
Brennan Center for Justice. However, the GAB Staff decided not to shade each
office, which will lead to concerns and confusion for voters from selecting a
candidate for each office (See on Next Page).

Official Ballot for Partisan Office
and Referendum
November 4, 2014
Notice to voters: This ballot may be invalid unless initialed by 2 election inspectors. If cast as an absentee ballot, the ballot
must bear the initials of the municipal clerk or deputy clerk.
Instructions to Voters Statewide (Cont.) Congressional
If you make a mistake on your ballot Attorney General
Representative in Congress
or have a question, see an election Vote for 1
District _
inspector. (Absentee voters: Contact
Candidate
Vote for 1
your municipal clerk.)
(Democratic)
Candidate
Fill in only 1 oval in each contest. Candidate
(Democratic)
-To vote for a name on the ballot, fill in (Republican)
Candidate
the oval next to the name like this . Thomas A. Nelson, Sr.
(Republican)
-To vote for a name that is not on the
(Libertarian)
Candidate
ballot, write the name on the line
write-in:
(Independent)
marked write-in, and fill in the oval
Secretary of State
write-in:
next to the name like this .
Vote for 1 Legislative
Statewide Candidate State Senator, District _
Governor/ (Democratic)
Vote for 1
Lieutenant Governor Candidate
Candidate
Vote for 1 (Republican)
(Democratic)
You may fill in only 1 oval for the office
Candidate
Candidate
of Governor/Lieutenant Governor.
(Constitution)
(Republican)
Candidate/
Andy Craig Candidate
Candidate
(Libertarian)
(Independent)
(Democratic)
write-in: write-in:
Candidate/
State Treasurer Representative to the Assembly
Candidate
Vote for 1 District _
(Republican)
Candidate
Vote for 1
Dennis Fehr/
(Democratic) Candidate
No Candidate
Candidate
(Democratic)
(Peoples Party)
(Republican)
Candidate
Robert Burke/ Candidate (Republican)
Joseph M. Brost
(Constitution) Candidate
(Libertarian)
Ron Hardy
(Independent)
write-in:_______________________/
(Wisconsin Green Party) write-in:
(Governor)
Jerry Shidell Turn ballot over to continue
voting.
write-in:________________________ (Libertarian)
(Lieutenant Governor)
write-in:

Continue voting at top of next Continue voting at top of next
column. column.

Page 1 of 2-sided ballot Ballot continues on other side.



GAB-203msGOV General Election OS Ballot-OVALS 2014 General Election (Rev. 2014-07-08)
GAB Design
Governor/Lt. Governor
Brown County Design
Governor/Lt. Governor




























Ballot Layout Expert and Partisan Liberal

Self-proclaimed ballot expert Dana Chisnell was hired by the GAB and received
$19,000 from Wisconsin taxpayers to oversee the re-designing of Wisconsins ballot.
Working mainly in heavy-democratic states Massachusetts and California, Ms. Chisnell
is anything but non-partisan.
o The GAB spent taxpayer money to conduct a study for the re-design of the
ballot without notifying the Legislature.
When investigating Ms. Chisnell, it became abundantly apparent that she holds extremely
partisan political beliefs. And, Ms. Chisnell is not holding her political views closely.
o Example #1: Unabashedly denoting her political beliefs, Ms. Chisnell is a
registered Democrat in her home state of Massachusetts (see below for voter
registration information).
o Example #1: On her public Twitter profile, Ms. Chisnell is hugging a tree in her
profile picture (code for embracing liberal tendencies).
o Example #2: On August 21
st
, 2014, Ms. Chisnell posted a picture of a piece of
cardboard with the words: Freedom Fights for liberty & freedom of all people
GAB Design - Flawed Design
43
Re-designed Ballot:
Write In
Congressional
State
Represenative in Congress
District 1
Vote for One
Jeff Miller
Republican
Bert Oram
Democratic
Write In
Write In
Governor/Lieutenant Governor
Vote for One
Jeb Bush / Frank T. Brogan
Republican
Bill McBride / Tom Rossin
Democratic
Attorney General
Vote for One
Charlie Crist
Republican
Buddy Dyer
Democratic
Commissioner of Agriculture
Vote for One
Charles H. Bronson
Republican
David Nelson
Democratic
Robert Kunst / Linda Milkowitz
NPA
County
County Commisioner
District 2
Vote for One
Bill Dickson
Republican
Ron Melton
Democratic
Yes
Nonpartisan
Judicial
Justice of the Supreme Court
No
Yes
No
Yes
No
Yes
No
Yes
No
Yes
No
Yes
No
District Court of Appeal
Sample Ballot
Official General Election Ballot
Escambia County, Florida
November 5, 2002
Vote Fill in the Oval next to your choice
Use only the marking device provided or a number 2 pencil
If you make a mistake, ask for a new ballot
To vote for a candidate whose name does not appear on the ballot,
fill in the oval next to the dotted line and write in the name of the candidate.
Bonnie M. Jones
Supervisor of Elections
Room 400, County Courthouse
Telephone: 559-3900
Shall Justice Harry Lee Anstead
of the Supreme Court be retained
in office?
Shall Justice Charles T. Wells
of the Supreme Court be retained
in office?
Shall Judge Robert T. Benton of
the First District Court of Appeal
be retained in office?
Shall Judge Margueritte H. Davis
of the First District Court of Appeal
be retained in office?
Shall Joseph Lewis, Jr. of the
First District Court of Appeal be
retained in office?
Shall Judge Ricky L. Polston of
the First District Court of Appeal
be retained in office?
Shall Judge WilliamA.VanNortwick,
Jr. of the First District
Court of Appeal be retained in office?
The re-designed ballot includes our recommendation
for the use of ll-the-oval instead of complete-the-arrow
response method. Not all machines can read ovals.
Brennan Center Recommendation
Proper Shading of each Office
[sic] in the world. We must redefine democracy in the USA and end the
corporate state.
o Example #3: On July 31, 2014, Ms. Chisnell wrote on Twitter a reference to
supporting Hillary Clintons potential Presidential candidacy by stating
HILL.AR.Y.
o Example #4: On August 4, 2014, Ms. Chisnell wished President Obama a Happy
Birthday. While this is not incriminating on its own, she has not wished any other
elected official a Happy Birthday including Republicans.
o Example #5: In February 2012, Ms. Chisnell started a KickStarter campaign to
fund a project that would help ensure voter intent. However, her partisan political
views quickly became apparent when she wrote: In case youve been living
under a rock and have missed the news, 2012 is a big election year. We cant
afford to have this election decided by the courts. We need more funding to get
the guidance out to the right people sooner.
(https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/civicdesigning/field-guides-to-ensuring-voter-intent)
Highlighting her progressive achievements, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom
appointed Ms. Chisnell to the Ballot Simplification Committee from 2005-2009 she
later received a commendation from the San Francisco Board of Supervisors for her work
in 2009.
Simply put, Dana Chisnell is a partisan progressive with an agenda to help elect
fellow progressives to office at all costs including rigging Wisconsins ballot to help
them.

Legal Overview GAB Circumvents Wisconsin Law

Wisconsin Statutes clearly states: No ballotmay be utilized in this state unless it is
approved by the board. The board may revoke its approval of any ballotat any time
for cause.
Furthermore, Wisconsin Statue 5.91 clearly defines the requirements for ballots.
Wisconsin Statute 5.91, Section (10) requires all ballots be suitably designed for the
purpose used and Section (12) states a ballot can be utilized only if it minimizes the
possibility of disenfranchisement of electors as the result of failure to understand the
method of operation or utilization or malfunction of the ballot
















Dana Chisnell: Partisan Liberal Ballot Expert






















Example #1




Example #2
Example #3
Example #4
Example #3