- A Wisconsin judge has issued a ruling directing the state election board to implement a decision that allows election officials to accept absentee ballots that include a partial address of a witness.
- The recent presidential election in Wisconsin was very close with less than 23,000 votes, indicating that the race is once again close.
- Republicans have been pushing for stricter absentee voting rules since Trump lost Wisconsin in 2020.
A Wisconsin judge on Tuesday ordered the state Board of Elections to implement a ruling that allows election officials to accept absentee ballots that include a partial address of a witness, a decision that sparks a hotly contested decision. The number of votes counted in the state is expected to expand.
The past two presidential elections in Wisconsin were both decided by less than 23,000 votes. Polls predict another tight race between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump this year.
Since Trump’s loss in Wisconsin in 2020, Republicans have fought in court to tighten rules limiting the number of absentee ballots accepted.
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State law requires absentee ballots to be submitted with a witness signature and address on the outer envelope containing the ballot. Three separate lawsuits have been filed related to these rules.
A poll worker sorts early and absentee ballots at Kenosha City Hall on November 3, 2020 in Kenosha, Wisconsin. A Wisconsin judge has ordered the Wisconsin Elections Commission to implement a ruling that allows election officials to accept absentee ballots that include a partial address of a witness. . (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E, File)
Dane County Judge Ryan Nilsetwen ruled earlier this month in two lawsuits brought by liberals that if a witness’ address omits the city or zip code, or if the witness lives in the same household, then simply The court ruled that a ballot can be accepted if the answer is “same” or “same.” voters. Congressional Republicans fought to have the lawsuit dismissed.
Nilsestuen on Tuesday ordered the election commission to approve guidelines instructing clerks on what types of ballots can be accepted by February 9 at the latest. Nilsestuen stressed that he wants to act quickly, taking into account the local election primaries scheduled for February 20th. Wisconsin’s presidential primary and spring general election are April 2nd.
Kevin LeRoy, an attorney for the Republican-majority chamber, said he plans to ask that the ruling be put on hold pending an appeal. The judge scheduled a hearing on that Friday.
The case is expected to be argued before the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
But first, the state Board of Elections will likely vote on Feb. 8 to approve guidelines for Wisconsin’s more than 1,800 local office workers, in line with the judge’s order. Local clerks conduct elections and receive absentee ballots that do not necessarily include all witness address information.
“We will try to turn the situation around as soon as possible,” Thomas Bellavia said. “WEC wants this system to work.”
The Electoral Commission issued guidelines in 2016 stating that a witness’s address “will include at least a house number, street name, and city,” but that missing address information, known as ballot curing, must be removed. He said the clerk could fill it. The practice remained unchallenged until after Trump’s narrow loss in 2020, when he unsuccessfully tried to have more than 220,000 absentee ballots thrown out in an effort to overturn his defeat.
Among the items he didn’t want counted were about 5,500 absentee ballots where clerks filled out information that wasn’t listed in the witnesses’ addresses.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court’s December 2020 ruling rejecting Trump’s lawsuit noted that state law is not clear on the content of witness speeches.
A Waukesha County judge sided with Republicans in 2022, ruling that election officials cannot fill in missing address information on absentee ballot envelopes. Following this ruling, the Election Commission withdrew its guidance.
However, the judge did not state in what order what constitutes speech.
As a result, two related lawsuits were filed in Dane County, state guidance disappeared, and the Waukesha County ruling did not specify what would count as a full address, leaving clerks to decide what to do. He claimed that he did not know what was going on. do.
The lawsuit was filed by Rise Inc., a liberal group that mobilizes young voters, and the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin.
The judge on Tuesday detailed four ways a witness speech missing some information could be accepted.
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He said a witness’ address is acceptable if it includes a street number, street name, and city, but it is acceptable if it does not include a state or zip code, or if it includes everything other than city and state. He said that it would be acceptable if the It is also acceptable for the witness to list the same house number and street name as the voter, but no other address information is provided.
Also, if a witness indicates that their address is the same as the voter’s by saying things like “same”, “same address”, “same as voter”, “same as above”, “see above”, “same as above”, etc. It would also be acceptable if Or use quotation marks, arrows, or lines pointing to other addresses.
In 2021, the Legislative Audit Office examined approximately 15,000 absentee ballot envelopes from the 2020 election across 29 municipalities and found that 1,022 envelopes, or approximately 7%, were missing part of a witness’ address. . Only 15 ballots, or 0.1%, did not have a witness address. Auditors found that clerks corrected addresses on 66 envelopes, representing 0.4% of the sample.
