Ann Jacobs is a commissioner with the Wisconsin Elections Commission, a quiet, low-profile state agency that oversees elections.Recently, though, her day was anything but quiet."I was sitting at my desk and all of a sudden Twitter was showing a lot of alerts," said Jacobs, who watched a flood of posts inundate her screen from employees, lawyers and other boosters of the prediction market company Kalshi."My reaction was, boy howdy are they mad," Jacobs said.The outrage took Jacobs aback because of what set off the attacks: a commission advisory informing voters that they cannot place a bet in an election in which they cast a ballot.Wagering on such a race could disqualify a ballot, or even result in a referral to state prosecutors, according to the commission's statement.This is not a new policy.
The advisory was simply stating the basics of a Wisconsin election law originally passed in 1849, Jacobs said."You can't be a felon on active supervision and vote.If you're 17, you can't vote, and betting on an election where you vote, it's the same thing, it's not allowed," she said.Jump ahead to 2026, and Kalshi, the company leading the prediction market craze, is criticizing the law, calling it "bananas," "illegal" and a type of "voter suppression."Watching employees of the multi-billion-dollar company whip up a social media frenzy against an antebellum Wisconsin law left Jacobs puzzled.To her, pointing out election law months before an election was "simply responsible work by a government entity."The commission was spurred to issue the warning as prediction markets have become increasingly mainstream and a more prominent part of political discussions."We want people voting for the person they think will do the best job at the position they are being elected to.
We don't want people voting for someone who isn't the best person for the job simply because it is going to line a voter's pocket," Jacobs said.Billions of dollars are traded every week on prediction market site...