MADISON (WKOW) -- State elections officials say concealed weapons can be banned at polling places.
Local election clerks have asked the Government Accountability Board whether voters can carry hidden guns at the polls. GAB attorney Mike Haas says local governments can ban concealed weapons at the polls because elections qualify as special events.
Haas told the GAB Tuesday his staff has adopted a cleaner analysis from the state Justice Department. That agency concluded a provision in the concealed carry law that allows local governments to ban weapons in spaces they occupy extends to polling places, whether the sites are on government property or not.
Haas says his staff will advise municipalities to develop their own policies.
The next statewide election is June 5.
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MADISON (WKOW) -- Local governments can ban concealed weapons at all polling places, according to Wisconsin election officials.
An attorney for the Government Accountability Board wrote in a report that the state's concealed carry law contains a provision that allows organizers to ban concealed weapons at special events. Attorney Mike Haas says an election qualifies as a special event.
Haas also concludes officials at the polls have the right to maintain order and could legally order someone with a concealed weapon out if that person is disrupting the operation or distracting election workers.
Haas says GAB staff intends to tell municipalities that governing bodies such as city councils should decide on a weapons policy but will hold off until the state Justice Department reviews his analysis.
