A lawsuit filed in Dane County circuit court seeks to permit Wisconsin voters to cast provisional ballots at polling locations if their absentee ballots fail to arrive by Election Day. The legal challenge, brought by the Law Forward firm and Fair Elections Center on behalf of a voter and the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin, addresses concerns about mail delivery delays ahead of the November midterms, when control of Congress and the state’s governorship will be at stake.
The Wisconsin Elections Commission previously warned federal postal leadership about potential delivery delays affecting voter access. Senators with mostly Democratic affiliation also raised concerns earlier this year regarding changes to postmarking practices that could invalidate mail-in ballots. These concerns follow outcomes in other jurisdictions, including California’s June primary, where approximately 150,000 absentee ballots were rejected, predominantly due to late postmarks.
Recent Wisconsin election data demonstrates the scope of the problem. During the April election, hundreds of ballots went uncounted after arriving past the deadline. Elections clerks surveyed reported over 300 rejected ballots in Milwaukee and more than 100 in Fond du Lac County alone. Under current state law, Wisconsin voters cannot cast provisional ballots on Election Day, and all absentee ballots must reach the clerk’s office by the end of voting to be counted.
The proposed remedy would allow voters to submit provisional ballots if their absentee ballots have not been received by Election Day. Wisconsin’s absentee voting system provides voters with ballot status tracking, enabling them to determine whether delivery has occurred. Provisional ballots would be set aside by election officials and only counted if the corresponding absentee ballot is not delivered on time. The elections commission has not yet commented on the litigation.
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