Wisconsin Elections Commissions Says Small Communities Don't Need Permission to Stop Using Electronic Voting Machines

Thursday, May 29th, 2025 -- 11:00 AM

(Rich Kremer, Wisconsin Public Radio) The Wisconsin Elections Commission says small communities don’t need the state’s permission to stop using electronic voting machines, siding with a northwestern Wisconsin town that switched to hand-counted, paper ballots last year.

According to Rich Kremer with the Wisconsin Public Radio, the WEC decision means municipalities still must make at least one electronic voting machine available at polling places for voters with disabilities.

In a 5-1 decision, commissioners dismissed a complaint alleging the Rusk County town of Thornapple broke state law when it switched from voting tabulators to hand-counted paper ballots for April and August elections in 2024.

The town’s decision spurred two complaints with the elections commission and a federal lawsuit from the U.S Department of Justice, which is currently being appealed.

During a meeting Tuesday, commission staff said they found no probable cause to believe Thornapple broke state law by discontinuing the use of electronic voting machines.

A complaint filed by the liberal firm Law Forward on behalf of a Thornapple resident argues a Wisconsin law enacted in 1995 requires communities with less than 7,500 residents that have used electronic tabulators in the past to keep using them in future elections unless the commission permits them to switch to hand-counted, paper ballots.

An analysis by commission attorneys pushed back on Law Forward’s interpretation and said clerks in smaller municipalities have the power to stop using voting machines whenever they like.

Wisconsin Elections Commission Chair Ann Jacobs, a Democrat, disagreed with the staff’s reading of state law and said a subsection of the law in question clearly says municipalities need to get permission to stop using electronic tabulators.

She theorized that election administration grants from the WEC could be gamed by small municipalities.

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