Wisconsin high court rules absentee drop boxes can be used in November
by Caroline Vakil - 07/05/24 11:50 AM ET
The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled Friday that absentee drop boxes can be used ahead of the November election, reversing a previous 2022 ruling and delivering a win for Democrats.
In a 4-3 decision, the liberal-majority court ruled that dropping off an absentee ballot did constitute as returning it to a “municipal clerk,” reversing itself from its previous decision made by the then-conservative majority court arguing that it could be dropped off only at election offices.
“By mandating that an absentee ballot be returned not to the ‘municipal clerk’s office,’ but ‘to the municipal clerk,’ the legislature disclaimed the idea that the ballot must be delivered to a specific location and instead embraced delivery of an absentee ballot to a person — the ‘municipal clerk,’” said Justice Ann Walsh Bradley, writing for the majority.
“Given this, the question then becomes whether delivery to a drop box constitutes delivery ‘to the municipal clerk,'” Bradley continued.
“We conclude that it does. A drop box is set up, maintained, secured, and emptied by the municipal clerk. This is the case even if the drop box is in a location other than the municipal clerk’s office,” the majority opinion said. “As analyzed, the statute does not specify a location to which a ballot must be returned and requires only that the ballot be delivered to a location the municipal clerk, within his or her discretion, designates.”
more
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4756499-wisconsin-donald-trump-joe-biden-absentee-ballots/
