Wisconsin Alliance for Civic Trust

Building relationships to bridge the divide, building trust in the electoral process, accepting results, and preventing political violence against our neighbors and fellow citizens. Last Friday Dan Theno, Brown County Board and former WI State Senator, and I had the distinct honor of representing the Wisconsin Alliance for Civic Trust, WisACT, with the extraordinary Tom Zalaski of WFRV-TV CBS Local 5 (Nexstar Media Group) in a thoughtful and timely Newsmaker Sunday interview to air Sunday before the election. ? Cross partisan WisACT members work across the divide to; build trust in our strong and secure elections process; and build relationships with each other, to understand each other’s stories and to see each other as people who want the best for our families and communities, rather than as enemies. We discussed gathering information from a variety of sources, how social media channels, podcasts, and the bombardment of negative campaign advertising in print, television, and digital outlets further divide us, and how the current campaign finance system removes accountability. WisACT seeks to provide tools to bridge the divide. Rebuilding relationships & bridging divide is key to trust and preventing political violence. ? Wisconsin elections have a secure system of checks and balances, at the local level, county level, and at the state level. All is accomplished by a devoted group of fellow citizens including experienced clerks, municipal employees and volunteers, and county and state officials who follow the rule of the law to ensure that your vote is counted correctly and securely. ? Acceptance of election results is the cornerstone to a peaceful transfer of power in our incredible Democracy. ? Practice verification, patience and acceptance as we move through our election on November 5th. Understand that unprecedented early voting is occurring, and that the system will hold. Understand also that absentee ballots cast as absentee by mail, or early in-person absentee, will be held securely in vaults and cannot statutorily be opened until 7:00am on election day. Consequently, in-person voting may show up in the count first, then absentee ballots will be added to the count as they are able to be processed. This will continue well into the night until all are counted, and the statutory checks and balances have been met in a safe and secure process. ? Our fellow citizens will ensure safe, transparent, accurate, and secure elections. ? To join our cross-partisan WisACT network, visit https://wisact.org/. For more information about our election process visit My Vote Wisconsin at https://lnkd.in/dV9YdeD, and the Wisconsin Elections Commission at https://elections.wi.gov/. Our sincere thanks to Tom Zalaski, Ed Walters at WFRV, and to our friends, neighbors and WisACT members working to build relationships and trust. Most importantly exercise your right to VOTE, your voice matters in our incredible Democracy!