The Wisconsin Supreme Court gave a mighty blow to Democrats by declaring ballot “drop boxes” are unlawful in most instances.
This decision came ahead of the state’s primary elections and is likely to significantly impact the election outcome.
Ballot Boxes Declared “Illegal” in Wisconsin
According to Wisconsin law, it is not permissible to give a ballot to anyone “other than the election official in charge.”
Thus, proponents of this law suggested no one should be allowed to drop off ballots on behalf of their family members. Churches cannot gather the ballots of attendees and drop them off after service either.
The top court decision is likely to come with nationwide implications. Both the gubernatorial and Senate elections of the state this November are expected to be close.
While ballot boxes have long been used in the state in all the previous elections, their access was drastically increased in 2020 when the pandemic paved the way for the left to introduce controversial voting measures.
BREAKING: A split Wisconsin Supreme Court rules unmanned drop boxes are illegal and voters must deliver their absentee ballots by mail or in-person to their clerks.
— JR Ross (@jrrosswrites) July 8, 2022
In the 4-3 ruling, Justice Rebecca Bradley pointed out the wording of the law, which mentions everyone should drop the ballot to the clerk “in person.”
The judge noted “in-person” means “bodily presence” of the person, which makes ballot boxes illegal. Bradley schooled Wisconsin’s Election Commission (WEC) which promoted the ballot boxes in the 2020 elections.
She asserted irrespective of the “good intentions” of the WEC to introduce more mail-in voting in the pandemic era, the law has to prevail in the end.
No More Controversial Ballots Will be Entertained
As the case progressed, the opinion of Justice Brian Hagedorn became extremely important.
Although Hagedorn was elected to the court with the help of the GOP, he mostly favored liberal justices in his previous decisions.
Whereas this time, Hagedorn sided with conservative justices, noting the law needed to be interpreted “as written.”
However, liberal justices did not seem satisfied with the decision. Justice Ann Walsh wrote in a dissenting opinion that the court’s decision is “lamentable,” but “not a surprise” for her.
She added the Supreme Court’s verdict will increase confusion among voters, which will eventually “threaten our democracy.”
Meanwhile, liberals cried foul after the decision, noting it would restrict many voters, especially those with disabilities. They claimed disabled voters would not be able to drop their ballots at their nearest location any further.
Wisconsin remained the epicenter of 2020 historic voter fraud, where Biden defeated Trump by a mere 0.63 % margin.
I HAVE GREAT NEWS!
The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled 4-3 that absentee ballot drop boxes may only be placed in election offices
& no one other than the voter can return a ballot in person.
In 2020, Wisconsin had more than 500 unmanned drop boxes — this won’t happen again.
— #ThePersistence (@ScottPresler) July 8, 2022
Various voting discrepancies were observed in the state, where voter turnout in nursing homes in three counties touched 100%.
Similarly, nursing home residents in two other counties had a turnout of more than 95%, which raised the eyebrows of voter integrity watchdogs.
With this ruling, Democrats are left with few legal options. The US Supreme Court already barred federal courts from intervening in states’ election rules, which means the ruling of the high court is unlikely to be challenged.
