Lawsuit filed by Priorities USA, the Wisconsin Alliance for Retired Americans and a voter against the Wisconsin Elections Commission challenging three rules regulating absentee voting procedures in Wisconsin. The complaint specifically alleges that three separate absentee voting rules violate the Wisconsin Constitution by treating absentee voting as a \u201cprivilege\u201d and not a \u201cright.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
First, the plaintiffs challenge the state\u2019s absentee ballot witness requirement. This rule requires an absentee ballot to be accompanied by a witness certificate \u2014 which contains a witness address \u2014 in order to prove that a voter completed their absentee ballot in the presence of an individual who can attest to the voter\u2019s eligibility to vote absentee. Additionally, if an absentee ballot contains an error, voters may only \u201ccure\u201d (meaning fix) said errors in the presence of the original witness. The plaintiffs allege that this requirement burdens the right to vote and violates the Wisconsin Constitution\u2019s right to a secret ballot, since witnesses can easily see how voters marked their absentee ballots. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Second, the plaintiffs challenge Wisconsin\u2019s complete prohibition on drop boxes, which emerged following the Wisconsin Supreme Court\u2019s 2022 decision in Teigen v. Wisconsin Elections Commission<\/em><\/a>. Since this decision, voters can only return their absentee ballots to a municipal clerk via mail or by dropping their absentee ballot off at a \u201cpolling place or central count location.\u201d The plaintiffs contend that the state\u2019s ban on drop boxes leads to disenfranchisement and assert that drop boxes should be reinstated since they are a secure and reliable method by which to return absentee ballots. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Third, the plaintiffs challenge the deadline by which voters must \u201ccure\u201d errors on their absentee ballot envelopes. Under Wisconsin law, voters must cure defective absentee ballot envelopes by 8 p.m. on Election Day \u201cif time permits.\u201d The plaintiffs allege that this deadline deprives \u201cvoters who return their ballots on or close to Election Day\u201d of the \u201ccure opportunities that are extended to other absentee voters.\u201d The complaint notes that \u201c[i]n many cases, the inability to return an absentee ballot in time to permit a cure before 8 p.m. on election day may be due to no fault of the voter.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Finally, the plaintiffs challenge Wisconsin law for construing absentee voting as a \u201cprivilege\u201d and not a \u201cright,\u201d despite the fact that Wisconsin Constitution protects the fundamental right to vote. In turn, the plaintiffs assert that the law\u2019s differential treatment of in-person ballots versus absentee ballots violates the Wisconsin Constitution. The plaintiffs argue that all three absentee voting rules violate the Wisconsin Constitution and ask the court to deem them invalid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Jan. 24, 2024, the court dismissed some of the plaintiffs’ claims but allowed their challenge to proceed against the state’s witness requirement and Wisconsin law that deems absentee voting a \u201cprivilege\u201d and not a \u201cright.\u201d On Jan. 26, the plaintiffs dismissed their remaining claims. <\/p>\n\n\n\n On Feb. 9, 2024, the plaintiffs, seeking to bypass the appeals court level, appealed the dismissal of their claims to the Wisconsin Supreme Court. On March 12, 2024, the Wisconsin Supreme Court agreed to hear arguments on whether to overrule its 2022 decision prohibiting drop boxes. On April 18, the Wisconsin Supreme Court agreed to allow Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers (D) to participate in the case in defense of drop boxes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n RESULT: <\/strong>On July 5, 2024, the Wisconsin Supreme Court reinstated drop boxes across the state. Voters will be able to cast absentee ballots using drop boxes in the 2024 general election. On remand, the trial court dismissed the plaintiffs’ remaining claims raised in the lawsuit. <\/p>\n\n\nCase Documents (Trial court)<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t