Former Republican Sen. Kathy Bernier leading bipartisan group on election education
Hope KarnoppMADISON - A former Republican state senator who criticized members of her party for spreading false election claims is now leading the Wisconsin branch of a nonpartisan group focused on election education efforts.
“This is exactly what I’ve been preaching for some time, is to try to get everyone out of their partisan corner and look at this democracy and this republic as it was intended,” former state Sen. Kathy Bernier said of joining the organization Keep Our Republic, which launched a Wisconsin branch on Monday.
Bernier, the former Chippewa County clerk and chair of the Senate elections committee, did not run for reelection last year. Some in her party targeted her after she disagreed with false claims about the 2020 election.
“I think the American citizens are kind of sick of the turmoil. They want stability, they want confidence in their federal executives. I think that’s what every American is looking for right now, because we don’t have it. And we haven’t had it for a while,” Bernier said.
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Other members of the bipartisan Wisconsin advisory council include former Democratic Lt. Gov. Barbara Lawton, former Republican Gov. Tommy Thompson and former Republican Congressman Reid Ribble. The organization is also active in Michigan and Pennsylvania.
The group will focus on local efforts to educate the public about election procedures, such as canvassing and certifying votes. Bernier developed plans for reaching local clerks, clergy, law enforcement and other community members to “help disseminate the facts about the electoral system.”
Bernier said the group wants to utilize information from the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty’s 2020 election report, which concluded there were no irregularities with Dominion voting machines.
The conservative group’s report also recommended allowing clerks to process absentee ballots before Election Day and establishing security requirements for ballot drop boxes.
The new group will not lobby on election administration bills in the Capitol, Bernier said, but “certainly would weigh in” on measures such as a current bill that would create penalties for intimidating or harming an election official.
“We do want to watch what’s going on in Madison, we want to weigh in on things and maybe make some suggestions here and there,” Bernier said. “We’re just blazing a trail, it’s kind of new to everyone.”
Hope Karnopp can be reached at hkarnopp@gannett.com.