MADISON, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – With under four weeks remaining until the fall primary, the Wisconsin Elections Commission met on Monday and couldn’t come to an agreement on sending municipal clerks new guidance on Friday’s Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling on absentee ballot drop boxes.
The court ruled drop boxes are illegal in Wisconsin and can only be placed in election offices where workers are present. Only the voter can return their own ballot.
The Wisconsin Elections Commission discussed the court’s decision for about three hours — about half of that was in closed session.
Wisconsin Elections Commission Administrator Meagan Wolfe says her office has been fielding calls from clerks on how to implement the decision.
“That is probably the most common question we get from clerks, especially right now,” said Wolfe.
Commission staff drafted a two-page memo to send to clerks, but the six commissioners split on sending it out as formal guidance. The three Republican-appointed commissioners were for it, while the three-Democrat-appointed members were against.
“The commission is a very controversial entity,” said Don Millis, the chair of the commission and a Republican-appointed member. “There are calls to get rid of the commission and give its duties to some other body or some other official. I don’t think we do the public any justice or the institution here by avoiding issues.”
“They just got done running an election, and the last election they ran didn’t have any drop boxes, and we did not have any problems,” said Mark Thomsen, a Democrat-appointed member of the commission.
Before the final vote, Republican-appointed commissioners wanted to add in guidance that people had to show clerk staff their ID when dropping off an absentee ballot.
“Because how do we know if somebody is dropping off a completed absentee ballot that is the actual person?” said Bob Spindell, a Republican-appointed commissioner.
“We have no authority to order people [to] show ID or to add qualifications to voting that don’t exist in law or statute,” said Ann Jacobs, a Democrat-appointed commissioner.
The Democrat-appointed commissioners also rejected efforts for guidance to be sent out on whether a voter has to be the one to put their own ballot in the mailbox and federal law on providing assistance to voters with a disability. They argued that clerks have no way of enforcing who puts their ballot in the mailbox and that clerks already have federal disability law guidance.
The Democrat-appointed commissioners expressed willingness to eventually send out guidance on the drop box ruling if they believe it is necessary.
The primary is on Aug. 9. The election will decide which Republican will face Democrat Tony Evers in the race for governor. The Democrat to face Republican Ron Johnson on Nov. 8 in the senate election will also be selected.
It is a partisan primary, meaning voters can only choose candidates from one political party.
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