A victory has been delivered to conservatives going up against the Wisconsin Elections Commission, as the Supreme Court of Wisconsin ruled absentee ballot boxes to be illegal under state law.
The 4-3 ruling declares absentee drop boxes are illegal unless they are located in election offices.
Here’s what the high court said:
“An absentee ballot must be returned by mail or the voter must personally deliver it to the municipal clerk at the clerk’s office or a designated alternate site. The record evidence cited does not support its argument that ballot drop boxes have been in common and longstanding use in this state.”
The drop boxes can only be placed INSIDE election offices.
BREAKING: Wisconsin Supreme Court rules 4-3 that absentee drop boxes are illegal in the state.
— DailyNoah.com (@DailyNoahNews) July 8, 2022
BREAKING: In a historic vindication for Trump, Wisconsin Supreme Court details how use of drop boxes and ballot harvesting in 2020 presidential elections was illegal. https://t.co/wmTOKheHTa
— Tom Fitton (@TomFitton) July 8, 2022
In 4-3 decision, Wisconsin Supreme Court bans the use of ballot drop boxes. https://t.co/Y9zVM3v1NV
— Patrick Marley (@patrickdmarley) July 8, 2022
The ruling comes in response to a lawsuit originally filed by the Thomas More Society on behalf of state voters who took legal action against major cities for their illegal use of the drop boxes during the 2020 election cycle. Those cities included Green Bay, Kenosha, Madison, Milwaukee, and Racine.
The Gateway Pundit reported that this deals “critical defeats to Democrats in the battleground state.”
More details of the ruling from an AP report:
Wisconsin’s conservative-controlled Supreme Court ruled Friday that absentee ballot drop boxes may be placed only in election offices and that no one other than the voter can return a ballot in person, dealing a critical defeat to Democrats in the battleground state.
The court did not address the question of whether anyone other than the voter can return his or her own ballot by mail. Election officials and others had argued that drop boxes are a secure and convenient way for voters to return ballots.
The decision sets absentee ballot rules for the Aug. 9 primary and the fall election; Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson and Democratic Gov. Tony Evers are seeking reelection in key races.
The court’s 4-3 ruling also has critical implications in the 2024 presidential race, in which Wisconsin will again be among a handful of battleground states. President Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump in 2020 by just under 21,000 votes, four years after Trump narrowly won the state by a similar margin.
You can read the ruling from the Wisconsin Supreme Court HERE.
Since June 2022, more than 20 states have approved laws to ban or restrict public officials’ use of private funds when conducting elections.
