Voting rights groups and Democrats had argued that restricting ballot boxes would make voting difficult for some residents, especially those with disabilities. Meanwhile, Wisconsin’s conservative interests had maintained that voting practices employed in the state during the 2020 election, such as widespread use of ballot boxes, violated state law and opened the door to possible fraud.
State law does not address ballot boxes, but in Friday’s 4-3 ruling, most of the court said the absence of an absolute ban does not mean they are legal. “Voting ballots do not appear anywhere in the detailed statutory system for absentee voting,” Judge Rebecca Bradley wrote.
The majority ruled that the Wisconsin Electoral Commission, a six-member panel that helps oversee voting in the state, had exceeded its authority when it issued guidelines to local election secretaries to allow the use of mailboxes to return ballots. ballots absent in 2020. elections, in the midst of a pandemic. In its decision, the court said absentee ballots may be left by the voter at the office of the secretary or at another designated place, but not in an unmanned ballot box.
The judges did not address whether someone can mail a ballot on behalf of another voter, leaving open the possibility of any collection of ballots from third parties.
The decision comes about a month before the August 9 Wisconsin primary and sets the ground rules for this year’s high-risk state elections. Democrat Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers is seeking a second term, and Republican Sen. Ron Johnson is running for re-election in a race that could help determine which party controls the U.S. Senate. And the 2024 presidential contest is likely to change the outcome of the Wisconsin election and a handful of other battlefield states. In a statement Friday, Evers described the decision as “another of the successes of Wisconsin Republicans to hinder the exercise of their right to vote, to undermine our free, fair and safe elections, and to threaten our democracy.”
Rick Esenberg, president of the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, which filed the lawsuit challenging mailboxes and collecting ballots on behalf of other voters, said the decision provides “substantial clarity.”
“Wisconsin voters can be confident that state law, not the guidance of the (Wisconsin Electoral Commission), has the final say on how Wisconsin elections are conducted,” he said in a statement posted on Twitter. the pandemic has faced intense criticism, including calls to dismantle the bipartisan body, of some Wisconsin Republicans after President Joe Biden won the state by less than 21,000 votes in 2020.
Ballot boxes have grown in popularity in the last Badger State election: more than 520 ballot boxes were used in the 2020 general election, and that number rose to 570 in 66 of Wisconsin’s 72 counties during the spring election. of 2021, according to the numbers cited. in Friday’s decision.
This story has been updated with additional information.