MADISON, WI (WTAQ) — The Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty is seeking a ban on ballot harvesting.
Ballot harvesting is the practice of someone other than a voter requesting or collecting and delivering an absentee ballot.
“It opens up the opportunity for coercion, for fraud,” spokesman Lucas Vebber told WTAQ’s ‘The Morning News with Matt and Earl’. “You lose that chain of custody over your ballot when you turn it over to a third party.”
The group believes the practice is already illegal, but is asking the Wisconsin Elections Commission to clarify.
“We are just asking them to promulgate a rule that sets the parameters for this ballot harvesting,” said Vebber. “[A rule] that says that it’s generally unlawful in Wisconsin.”
Vebber says ballot harvesting should be legal only when a voter could otherwise not submit or request the ballot themselves.
The move comes ahead of an election that’s likely to see a record number of mail-in ballots.
