The Wisconsin Supreme Court on Friday banned the use of most voter drop boxes to turn in absentee ballots, giving state Republicans a major victory in their efforts to restrict access to votes in urban areas.
The conservative-majority court’s 4-to-3 ruling will go into effect before the Wisconsin primary election next month, though the real impact will most likely not be felt until November’s general election. Governor Tony Evers, a Democrat, and Senator Ron Johnson, a Republican, are both facing what are expected to be very close reelection bids.
The court adopted a literal interpretation of the state law, ruling that returning a ballot paper in the absence to a town clerk, as Judge Rebecca G. Bradley wrote for the majority, “does not mean, nor has it been historically construed as delivery to a unattended ballot box.”
While state law allows absentee ballots to be returned by mail, Judge Bradley wrote, “Bollot boxes are not mailboxes, though.”
County clerks overseeing Wisconsin elections used drop boxes without controversy for years before the 2020 election, when there were about 500 statewide, mostly outside public libraries and municipal buildings.
After the election, Wisconsin President Donald J. Trump defeated Joseph R. Biden Jr. by approximately 20,000 votes. Losing to Joseph R. Biden Jr., Mr. Trump’s campaign and his supporters filed a series of lawsuits to invalidate votes cast in drop boxes because the method of returning ballots was not explicitly allowed under state law.
In his opinion, Judge Bradley compared Wisconsin’s elections to contests manipulated by dictators in Syria and North Korea and questioned whether previous elections in the state had been legitimate.
“Thousands of votes have been cast through this illegal method, directly harming voters in Wisconsin,” she wrote. “The illegality of these drop boxes weakens people’s confidence that the election produced a result that reflects their will. Wisconsin voters, and all legitimate voters, are injured when the agency charged with administering the Wisconsin elections fails to comply with the law, putting the results in question.”
Republicans who control the Wisconsin legislature most likely will not pass legislation to allow drop boxes. Robin Vos, the powerful speaker of the Wisconsin Assembly, said in September that drop boxes should be allowed into the municipal secretariat only during regular working hours.
“Should we have drop boxes everywhere that someone can just enter without security?” he said in an interview at his state capitol office in Madison. “I don’t think that’s right.”
Wisconsin Democrats, who have watched the Supreme Court and the state Legislature steadily erode the influence she and Mr. Evers have over the state’s voting rules, warned Friday that the state’s most vulnerable voters might not be able to. participate in state democracy. †
“With today’s ruling, the Wisconsin Supreme Court is making voting more difficult. It’s a slap in the face to democracy itself,” said Ben Wikler, president of the Wisconsin Democratic Party. “Our freedom to vote is under attack.”
