https://www.postcrescent.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/07/05/wisconsin-supreme-court-reinstates-absentee-ballot-drop-boxes/74292359007/
Republican Rep. Tom Tiffany, who represents northwestern Wisconsin's 7th Congressional District, falsely equated the allowance of drop boxes with "anonymous ballot box stuffing." He used the decision to raise questions about the security of the upcoming elections, claiming it "opens the door to potentially fraudulent activities," though there has been no evidence drop boxes contributed to fraud in the prior presidential election.
Despite the heavy scrutiny from Republicans, drop boxes were used widely in Wisconsin, including in conservative areas. In spring 2021, there were about 570 drop boxes in Wisconsin, according to court filings. Out of Wisconsin's 72 counties, at least 66 had drop boxes as of spring 2021, PolitiFact Wisconsin noted.
This week's ruling means cities with remaining drop boxes will likely be able to open them back up quickly ahead of the August partisan primaries.
Milwaukee Election Commission Executive Director Paulina Gutiérrez said she was excited by the decision, which she was reviewing early Friday.
"This is just another opportunity for us to provide a safe and secure way for people to drop off their absentee ballots here to the City of Milwaukee," Gutierrėz said.
In September 2020, Milwaukee installed 15 unstaffed absentee ballot drop boxes with a $70,000 grant from the Center for Tech and Civic Life, an organization financed by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan.
After the 2020 presidential election Republicans were critical of private funds the Center for Tech and Civil Life granted to larger, Democratic-leaning cities, although municipalities of all sizes statewide received the grants.
The city's drop boxes have been locked and inaccessible since they were banned by the state Supreme Court two years ago.
The drop boxes will now be inspected to ensure they're still in working order.
In Madison, City Attorney Michael Haas has said the process is only a matter of unlocking a box and double-checking the video security.
The high court's conservative justices in banning drop boxes two years ago said state law does not permit drop boxes anywhere other than election clerk offices. And they argued the Republican-controlled state Legislature was the only body that could form policy around the boxes — not the Wisconsin Elections Commission, which issued guidance to clerks permitting them in 2020.
During oral arguments in the case earlier this year, conservative Justice Rebecca Bradley likened the lawsuit to “asking this court to become a super Legislature and give free rein… to municipal clerks to conduct elections however they see fit.”
The new liberal majority, though, showed signs it planned to reverse its conservative members’ past ruling.
“What if we just got it wrong?” Justice Jill Karofsky said in May. “What if we made a mistake? Are we now supposed to just perpetuate that mistake into the future?"
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter Alison Dirr and Hope Karnopp contributed.
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with dem control its hard to stop fraud with thousands of phony ballots stuffed into box after box.
A little too late to cry over spilt milk. Primaries are over. The locals chose NOT to Participate