Dane County Judge Rules Wisconsin Election Clerks May Accept Absentee Ballots Missing Parts of Witnesses' Addresses

Wednesday, January 3rd, 2024 -- 12:00 PM

(Jessie Opoien, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel) A Dane County judge on Tuesday ruled Wisconsin election clerks may accept absentee ballots that are missing parts of witnesses' addresses as long as they can discern from the available information how to reach the witness.

According to Jessie Opoien with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Dane County Circuit Judge Ryan Nilsestuen's decision granted a request filed in September 2022 by a Madison voter and Rise Inc., a liberal group that seeks to mobilize young voters, to overhaul the guidance the Wisconsin Elections Commission provides to local clerks on how to proceed when a witness' address is incomplete.

The ruling puts in place a uniform standard and is likely to result in fewer absentee ballots being rejected. The decision could be appealed and eventually make its way up to the state Supreme Court, which in August flipped to an ideologically liberal majority for the first time in years.

The Wisconsin Elections Commission and the city clerks for Madison, Green Bay and Racine were defendants. The Republican-led state Legislature entered the case as an intervenor seeking to have the complaint dismissed. Nilsestuen previously served as chief legal counsel to Gov. Tony Evers' office.

Evers appointed him to his post in December 2022 after Judge Juan B. Colás announced his retirement. The lawsuit was filed shortly after a Waukesha County judge ruled clerks could not fill in missing address information on absentee ballot envelopes, a process known as ballot curing.

State law requires absentee ballots to be submitted with a witness’ signature and address. Before a raft of lawsuits filed after the 2020 election challenging the process, clerks had followed guidance unanimously approved by WEC in 2016 allowing clerks to complete missing information without contacting an absentee voter “if clerks are reasonably able to discern any missing information from outside sources.”

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