Comment MADISON, Wis. — A divided Wisconsin Supreme Court barred the use of most ballots Friday and ruled that voters could not give their completed absentee ballots to others to return on their behalf, a practice some conservatives scorn as “ballot harvesting.” It’s a decision feared by voting rights advocates, who said in advance that such a decision would make it harder for voters — especially those with disabilities — to return their absentee ballots. Many Republicans hoped for a ruling they said would help prevent someone from voting in someone else’s name. The 4-3 decision came a month before the state’s Aug. 9 primary election, when voters will narrow the fields for governor and U.S. senator. Both races in this battleground state are closely watched nationally. For years, polls were used without controversy throughout Wisconsin. Election officials greatly expanded their use in 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic as absentee voting reached unprecedented levels. By the presidential election, more than 500 polls had been placed across Wisconsin. Some Republicans balk at their use, pointing to a state law that says an absentee ballot must be “mailed by the voter or delivered in person to the municipal clerk issuing the ballot or ballots.” The state’s highest court ruled Friday that means voters themselves must return absentee ballots and cannot use ballots. “The key phrase is ‘in person’ and must be given its natural meaning,” Justice Rebecca Bradley wrote for the majority. More states are using absentee ballots, but the ballots are already drawing skepticism The case began last year when the conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law & Freedom filed a valve-use lawsuit on behalf of two suburban Milwaukee men. State law does not mention the ballots, and the lawsuit supported their use “casts doubt on the law of elections and erodes voter confidence in the electoral process” and that the two men “are entitled to have the elections in which they are participating properly conducted according to law.” State election officials and disability rights advocates who intervened in the case defended the use of drop boxes, saying they offered a way for voters to return ballots in person. Moreover, they did not argue that nothing in state law prohibits voters from handing their completed ballot to a clerk to be counted by their spouse, a friend, or someone else. In January, Waukesha County Circuit Judge Michael Bohren ruled in favor of the plaintiffs. He concluded that state law disallowed absentee ballots and required absentee voters to return their ballots in person or place them in mailboxes themselves. The state Supreme Court blocked Bohren’s order for judicial and school board primaries in February because they were fast approaching. However, judges banned the use of drop boxes for the general election for those offices in April. On Friday, the court sided with the lower court and issued a more permanent ruling that will affect future elections, starting with next month’s primary. Clerks began mailing absentee ballots last month. Thirty states and the District of Columbia allow the ballots, according to the USA Voting Foundation. Thirty-one states have laws that allow voters to have someone else return their ballot for them, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Some of these states allow voters to nominate anyone for this role, while others limit it to family members or caregivers. Fact Checker: Trump’s baseless claim about polls in Fulton County, Ga Wisconsin law says no person may “receive a ballot or give a ballot to a person other than the returning officer.” Those who filed the lawsuit argued that the policy should be strictly followed, meaning it would be illegal for someone to drop off their elderly parents’ ballots for them, or for church members to collect ballots after a service and then take them away in an office. The majority agreed with this assessment. Republicans have been more concerned about large-scale vote-getting efforts by party operatives. While some have engaged in the practice in other states, neither side mounted extensive ballot-gathering operations in Wisconsin in 2020, when Joe Biden narrowly defeated President Donald Trump in the state. The decision in Wisconsin fell along ideological lines, with judges elected with the support of majority Republicans and judges elected with the support of dissenting Democrats. Both sides have been closely watching Justice Brian Hagedorn, who won a 2019 race with Republican help but has sided with the court’s three liberals in a number of high-profile cases. Hagedorn signed much of Bradley’s decision, giving the conservatives the four votes they needed for a majority.
