On July 2, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker signed SB 121. Wisconsin already permitted write-ins and already said that they should be counted for candidates who had filed a campaign finance report. But, except for presidential write-ins, the old law did not specify a deadline for such a campaign finance report to be filed. The bill says write-ins shall be counted if the write-in candidate files a campaign finance report by noon on the Friday before the election (however, presidential write-ins already had a write-in filing deadline that is somewhat earlier, and their own rules on filing).
Wisconsin is to be commended for allowing very late filing by write-in candidates. A major purpose of allowing write-in votes is to allow for last-minute unexpected events that might cause the need for late entry of write-in candidates. Yet states like Texas, Florida and Ohio set write-in filing deadlines several months before the election.