![]() The majority's ruling rebuts guidance from the Wisconsin Election Commission. "Voters with disabilities who need ballot delivery assistance may want to contact their municipal clerk to ask for a disability related accommodation." Nothing in this decision changes federal protections for people with disabilities," the organization's Barbara Beckert said in a statement. "The right for voters with disabilities to have assistance from a person of their choice is protected by federal law. In a statement Friday afternoon, the group Disability Rights Wisconsin noted the court "declined to address the question of whether an elector may receive assistance with mailing their completed absentee ballot." "Without justification, fans the flames of electoral doubt that threaten our democracy." "It has seemingly taken the opportunity to make it harder to vote or to inject confusion into the process whenever it has been presented with the opportunity," she wrote. ![]() ![]() In a dissenting opinion, Justice Ann Walsh Bradley (no relation to her colleague) wrote that the court's decision "although lamentable, is not a surprise." The ruling did not address whether someone must physically put their own absentee ballot in the mailbox if voting by mail. "'In person' denotes 'bodily presence' and the concept of doing something personally."īradley wrote that absentee ballots must be delivered in person at a clerk's office and cannot be returned by someone else. "The key phrase is 'in person' and it must be assigned its natural meaning," wrote Justice Rebecca Bradley for the conservative majority, referring to the state statute governing ballot returns. The decision is the latest in a legal battle that began in January, after a Waukesha County judge sided with a conservative legal group in a lawsuit, declaring state law doesn't allow for unstaffed ballot drop boxes and requires that voters physically return their own absentee ballots.Īlthough an appeals court temporarily blocked the order for contests in February, the ban was in effect for local elections in April. The high court's ruling Friday, which comes one month before the swing state's primary elections, is a loss for voting rights groups and disability advocates. The Wisconsin Supreme Court has ruled that most ballot drop boxes aren't allowed in the state and that a voter can't have someone else return - in person - their completed absentee ballot on their behalf. Residents drop mail-in ballots in an official ballot box outside of a Milwaukee library on Oct.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |