Skip to content

Friday, Oct. 14, 2022

Are ballot boxes in Wisconsin illegal?

Jacob Alabab-Moser, Wisconsin Watch
yes

In July, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that absentee ballot drop boxes in the state were illegal in a lawsuit filed by the conservative group Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty on behalf of two voters against the Wisconsin Elections Commission.

"Reading the election statutes in context and as a whole, we conclude an absentee ballot delivered in person … must be delivered personally by the voter," wrote Justice Rebecca Bradley in the opinion issued by the court's conservative majority. 

The opinion stated the WEC is obliged to follow the state's election laws and that, "Nothing in the statutory language detailing the procedures by which absentee ballots may be cast mentions drop boxes or anything like them."

Ballot drop boxes proliferated during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, reaching roughly 500 across Wisconsin in the 2020 general election.

See a full discussion of this at Wisconsin Watch

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

About fact briefs

Fact briefs are bite-sized, well-sourced explanations that offer clear "yes" or "no" answers to questions, confusions, and unsupported claims circulating online. They rely on publicly available data and documents, often from the original source. Fact briefs are written and published by Gigafact contributor publications.

See all fact briefs

Wisconsin Watch, the news arm of the nonpartisan, nonprofit Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism, increases the quality and quantity of investigative reporting in Wisconsin, while training current and future investigative journalists. Its work fosters an informed citizenry and strengthens democracy.

Learn More

Latest Fact Briefs

Be a Friend of facts

Help us fund more great fact briefs like this one.