5.66 Number of ballots.

(1) For local elections, where necessary, municipal clerks shall have sufficient ballots printed or otherwise prepared whenever a voting system does not utilize printed ballots to assure a ballot for all electors or voting machines. For all other elections the municipal clerks shall certify to their county clerk, on the first day of the 2nd month preceding the month in which the primary is held, the approximate number of electors in the municipality. The county clerk shall total these estimates and order a sufficient supply to assure ballots for all electors and voting machines.

(2) The county clerk or board of election commissioners shall print a sufficient number of sample ballots. The municipal clerk or board of election commissioners shall print sample ballots whenever the municipality prepares ballots under s. 7.15 (2) (b) or (c). Sample ballots shall be printed on nonwhite colored paper and shall be overprinted “SAMPLE". Voting machine sample ballots shall be a reduced size diagram of the face of the board or screen inside the voting machine with all candidates, issues and voting instructions as they will appear on the official ballot. Sample ballots to be used with an electronic voting system in which ballots that are distributed to electors are used shall be an actual size copy of the ballot. The clerk or board of election commissioners printing the ballots shall distribute the samples approximately as follows: 45 percent shall be kept in the clerk's or board's office and distributed to electors requesting them; 45 percent shall be sent to the municipalities, or, if the municipality prints ballots, 45 percent shall be sent to the county for distribution to the electors; and 10 percent shall be reserved to be sent to the polling places by municipalities in proportion to the number certified in sub. (1) and made available to electors at the polls on election day.

History: 1979 c. 260, 311, 355; 1983 a. 484; 1987 a. 391; 2001 a. 16.