Wisconsin residents place their mail-in ballots into a drop box outside a Milwaukee library on October 20, 2020.
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MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin voters once again have the option to return their absentee ballots through a drop box, the Wisconsin Supreme Court has ruled.
The 4-3 decision released on Friday overturns a near-total ban on ballot boxes., The state’s high court issued the order in 2022.
Friday’s ruling comes four months before November’s presidential decision in a state where close elections have become the norm. In 2020, Democrat Joe Biden won Wisconsin by just over 20,000 votes, a statewide victory margin of less than 1 percentage point.
In 2022, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled in another 4-3 decision that it was illegal to set up unsupervised ballot drop boxes outside the clerk’s office because Wisconsin law did not specifically authorize them.
But since then, the balance has shifted at the state’s highest court.
Last August, the Liberals secured a majority when newly elected Justice Janet Protasiewicz replaced retiring conservative Justice Patience Roggensack.
Earlier this year, a majority of the justices agreed to hear a challenge from the progressive group Priorities USA seeking to overturn the drop box ban.
The court’s conservatives opposed taking the case, arguing that legal principles force the court to respect precedent.
“Finding the decision politically inconvenient, and emboldened by the court’s new composition, this new majority jumped at the chance to overturn [the 2022 ruling]Chief Justice Annette Ziegler joined in a dissent this spring, Justice Rebecca Bradley wrote. The state of election administration has only been a few months old and has brought confusion and confusion to Wisconsin voters and elections. “
Wisconsin’s Republican-controlled Legislature intervened in the case, arguing there was no reason to revisit the drop box ban.
In a newly released ruling, however, the court’s liberal wing concluded that the 2022 ruling was wrong.
“Our decision today does not compel or require any city employee to use drop boxes,” Judge Ann Walsh Bradley wrote in Friday’s majority opinion. “It just admits something [Wisconsin state law] Always means: Staff may lawfully use a secure drop box in the exercise of their statutory discretion.
David Fox, an attorney representing Priorities USA, said Friday’s decision makes it easier for Wisconsinites to vote by restoring a “convenient and reliable choice.”
“If you mail your ballot out, you don’t know when it’s going to arrive, and voters worry about whether it’s going to arrive in time and whether it’s going to be counted,” said Elias Law Group’s Fox. “But if you mail it out, you don’t know when it’s going to arrive.” Put it in the drop box before the deadline and you know it will be sent directly to election officials and will be counted.”
Wisconsin Republicans blasted the decision Friday.
“The left-wing justices on the Wisconsin Supreme Court have complied with the demands of out-of-state donors at the expense of Wisconsin, creating a setback for both the separation of powers and public trust in our elections,” state Republican Party Chairman Brian Hemming said in a statement. “The latest attempt by a leftist judge to appease his far-left supporters will not go unanswered by voters.”
Absentee voting has surged during the COVID-19 pandemic as public health officials urge people to avoid crowds. According to court documents filed by the Wisconsin Elections Commission, 570 drop boxes will be in place by spring 2021 in 66 of Wisconsin’s 72 counties.
Wisconsin voters also have the option to return their absentee ballots by mail. Ballots must be received by polls closing at 8pm on Election Day in order to be counted.
