Democrat socialist Francesca Hong, the far-left Madison representative running for Wisconsin governor in 2026, released a sweeping election “reform” agenda Tuesday that would dramatically expand early voting, implement automatic voter registration at the Department of Motor Vehicles, and criminalize federal immigration agents coming anywhere near polling places — moves critics say would gut election security and prioritize non-citizens over law-abiding Wisconsin voters.
In her newly posted policy blueprint titled “What Democracy Looks Like,” Hong calls for extending Wisconsin’s current two-week early in-person absentee voting window to 30 days before Election Day. She claims the change has “proven in other states to increase voter participation,” but offers no details on how Wisconsin would prevent ballot harvesting, chain-of-custody breakdowns, and last-minute “ballot dumps” that plagued expanded early-voting experiments in Milwaukee and elsewhere.
Hong also demands automatic voter registration whenever someone interacts with the DMV for a driver’s license or state ID, arguing, “The information required to register to vote is the same as what the Department of Motor Vehicles collects.” The proposal sidesteps any requirement for citizenship verification beyond existing federal motor-voter rules, raising alarms that Wisconsin’s porous system invites non-citizen voting, a concern amplified by the state’s history of tight presidential races decided by razor-thin margins.
Most controversially, Hong vows to sign legislation that would make it a state felony for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to come within 250 feet of any polling location. “Allies of the Trump Administration have called to surround polling places with ICE agents to intimidate or harass voters,” she wrote. “We will not tolerate this impingement on voting rights.” The language mirrors a Connecticut law and is framed as protecting “voting rights,” but others see it as a shield for illegal immigrants and an attempt to handcuff federal officers enforcing immigration law.
The plan, unveiled amid Hong’s high-profile CNN hit piece as she continues her abolish the police rhetoric, also includes an “opt-out permanent vote-by-mail status,” free voter IDs with expanded acceptance of out-of-state and tribal documents, and full funding for the left-wing activist Wisconsin Elections Commission.
This radical wish list would make Wisconsin elections even less secure than they were in 2020, rigging the game for Democrats and open-border activists. Her plan would import the same vulnerabilities seen in states with similar expansions, longer windows for fraud, diluted ID standards, and reduced ability to police non-citizen voting.
