Wisconsin's highest court on Friday ruled to permit the use of ballot drop boxes again, a move that could have a significant impact on voting and potentially give President Joe Biden a boost in the swing state.
Democrats largely support early voting initiatives and expanded access to voting, including the use of ballot drop boxes. In contrast, Republicans have cast doubt on the boxes and warned of potential "ballot-stuffing," advocating for tighter voter security measures.
In the 2020 presidential election, Biden narrowly won Wisconsin by just over 20,000 votes. Posts circulated on social media inaccurately claiming that Biden's campaign "found" winning votes from mail-in ballots. Reuters fact-checked the posts and confirmed that both Biden and former President Donald Trump received mail-in ballots in the overnight dump from large counties, and there was no evidence of widespread voter fraud.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court's 4-3 decision on Friday overturns its 2022 ruling that essentially banned ballot drop boxes by limiting them to inside local election clerks' offices.
The majority opinion, supported by the court's four liberal justices, confirms the use of ballot drop boxes in the upcoming 2024 presidential election, stating "clerks may lawfully utilize secure drop boxes in an exercise of their statutorily-conferred discretion." It does not mandate their use and allows them to be placed anywhere.
In the ruling, the court stated that "a drop box is set up, maintained, secured, and emptied by the municipal clerk," noting that "this is the case even if the drop box is in a location other than the municipal clerk's office."
This court's ruling is expected to increase voter turnout, as individuals can submit absentee ballots before Election Day at potentially more convenient locations near their residences.
The expansion of ballot boxes in the swing state comes just months before Biden and former president and presumptive Republican nominee Trump are set to face off in a rematch election this November.
In response to the ruling, which is projected to aid Biden, the Wisconsin Republican Party chair Brian Schimming released a statement condemning it, calling the decision a "setback for both the separation of powers and public trust in our elections."
He added that "the left-wing justices on the Supreme Court of Wisconsin have obeyed the demands of their out-of-state donors at the expense of Wisconsin. This latest attempt by leftist justices to placate their far-left backers will not go unanswered by voters."
The court recently switched its majority from conservative to liberal, and the latest ruling overturns the conservative court's previous decision. The challenge to the 2022 decision came from the progressive group Priorities USA.
"Thousands of Wisconsin voters cast their ballots in the 2020 elections using hundreds of drop boxes, but in 2022, the Wisconsin Supreme Court decided that drop boxes violated Wisconsin election law and could not be used," Danielle Butterfield, executive director of Priorities USA, told Newsweek in a statement.
Butterfield continued, "This decision is a major win for Wisconsin voters to restore the use of drop boxes, making voting easier and more secure. Now more than ever we need to fight to ensure that every American has the right to cast a ballot without unnecessary barriers, and we look forward to guaranteeing that every American is empowered to participate in our democracy."
Dane County Clerk Scott McDonell, who administers elections in the state's capital county, called the latest ruling "important" in a phone interview with Newsweek on Friday.
He noted that the state has "actually had drop boxes for decades [and] used them in Dane County for 30 years," but the 2022 ruling halted their use. This isn't the first time voters will use the drops boxes, which were reportedly popular in 2020.
The drop boxes could have a significant effect on the election because Wisconsin is "a state that if the ballot arrives late in the mail, it's not counted," McDonell said.
The county clerk noted that early voting played a "pretty substantial [role] in 2020," explaining that "half of our ballots were being voted absentee, either mailed back, early voting, or in the drop box." (Absentee voting surged nationwide during the COVID-19 pandemic as people avoided groups.)
Democratic officials in Wisconsin could place boxes throughout their districts, which could increase Democratic turnout and thus boost Biden's chances at winning the state. Local Democrats like Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson have already announced such plans, with The Washington Post reporting Johnson plans to make ballot boxes available ahead of the national election and likely before the state's primary.
The decision from the Wisconsin Supreme Court on ballot drop boxes came on the same day that Biden arrived in Madison, Wisconsin, for a campaign rally in a state where the national poll aggregator FiveThirtyEight showed Trump leading the president by 1.9 points for Wisconsin's 10 Electoral College votes.
Newsweek reached out to Ben Wikler, the chair of the Wisconsin Democratic Party, for comment via email on Friday. Newsweek alsoreached out to both the Biden and Trump campaigns for comment via email on Friday.
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Mandy Taheri is a Newsweek reporter based in Connecticut and Brooklyn. She joined Newsweek as a reporter in 2024. She ... Read more
