Wisconsin Supreme Court Reverses Own Ruling on Ballot Drop Boxes

Monday, July 8th, 2024 -- 1:01 PM

(AP) In a 4-3 ruling, the Wisconsin Supreme Court said Friday that officials can place ballot drop boxes around their communities in this fall’s elections, overturning its own ruling two years ago limiting their use in the presidential swing state.

Justice Ann Walsh Bradley wrote the majority decision, which says the court’s 2022 ruling was “unsound in principle.” “Our decision today does not force or require that any municipal clerks use drop boxes. It merely acknowledges... that clerks may lawfully utilize secure drop boxes in an exercise of the statutorily conferred discretion.”

The court did not address requiring absentee voters to vote in the presence of witnesses or that absentee ballots be received by election day, saying those issues weren’t part of this challenge.

The court limited the use of drop boxes in July 2022, ruling then that they could be placed only in local election clerks’ offices and no one other than the voter could return a ballot in person.

Conservatives controlled the court at that time, but Janet Protasiewicz’s election victory in April 2023 flipped the court to liberal control. Seeing an opening, Priorities USA, a progressive voter mobilization group, asked the court in February to revisit the decision.

Attorneys for the group that brought the challenge argued the current law is unworkable because it’s not explicitly clear where ballots can be returned. But conservative justices questioned the need to revisit their earlier ruling. All three conservative justices dissented.

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