Wisconsin Supreme Court upholds ballot drop box ban for April election
Voters won’t be able to use drop boxes, nor may they let someone else mail or return their absentee ballot to clerks in the April general election.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court room at the state Capitol building in Madison. (Royalbroil/Wikipedia Commons via Courthouse News)
A special report from Courthouse News Service. The whole article can be found there.
Wisconsin Supreme Court upholds ballot drop box ban for April election
Voters won’t be able to use drop boxes, nor may they let someone else mail or return their absentee ballot to clerks in the April general election. Opponents of drop boxes say state law permits only two legal ways to vote absentee in Wisconsin: either a voter can mail the ballot themselves, or they can return it to the municipal clerk’s office themselves. Any other method involving drop boxes or another person returning someone else’s ballot is illegal and invites fraud, they say, though there is little to no evidence to support the latter claim.
Waukesha County Circuit Court Judge Michael Bohren agreed with WILL on Jan. 13 and barred both practices in any future elections — including a Feb. 15 primary that was a little more than a month away at the time — on the basis that state statutes were clear that an elector must personally be involved in casting their ballot, regardless of informal rules issued to clerks by the WEC.
Three different courts in three different states have now ruled against the ballot boxes.