Racine Sun

Municipal clerks in Wisconsin are doing all they can to make sure voters get the message about drop boxes now banned in the state.

Across town, large and often brightly colored signs have been placed near the boxes to make sure they aren’t used in this spring’s local elections. Common across the state for years, a Waukesha County judge moved to outlaw the practice in January, the Racine County Eye reported. An appeals court paved the way for their usage in the February primary, but they aren’t allowed for the April 5 election as the state Supreme Court prepares to render a final decision.

In an audit last year of the 2020 presidential election, the Legislative Audit Bureau surveyed municipal clerks all over the state and found that 245 of the 855 clerks responding, spanning all regions of the state, used drop boxes in 2020 with many of them being in use far before the rise of the COVID-19 pandemic began to impact voting patterns, Racine County Eye said.

With the lawsuit also banning people from returning the ballots of others, Barbara Beckert, director of Disability Rights Wisconsin’s Milwaukee office said the organization has had a number of calls from people concerned that they won’t be able to vote on April 5, Racine County Eye said.

“The court ruling prohibits people from getting assistance mailing or returning their ballot, so it’s quite extreme,” Beckert told the Racine County Eye. “I’m hearing from a number of voters who are shocked and disheartened by this and unsure how they’re going to be able to vote unless they break the law.”

Beckert shared the story of one elderly northern Wisconsin resident with a mailbox a half-mile away from his front door. Unable to walk that far and no longer able to rely on assistance from others, the man worries he won’t be able to vote, Racine County Eye said. In another case, Beckert said a woman with multiple sclerosis that essentially confines her to her bed will no longer be able to count on having her husband return her ballot.

“She has limited use of one hand, but other than that she isn’t able to control her body any longer,” Beckert said. “She’s a very bright woman, a passionate voter, but she’s not able to put her own ballot in her own mailbox. Her husband has always assisted her with this. She’s facing some anxiety over how she’s going to be able to cast a ballot.”

Meanwhile, Dane County Clerk Scott McDonell said clerks in his area are taking added steps to make sure voters there are aware of the changes, Racine County Eye said.

“They’re working overtime to deliver that message that they need to use the mailbox or deliver it by hand to the clerk,” McDonell said. “There’s been some mailings. When they come in to drop it off by hand, it’ll be couples and one of them will have two ballots, their’s and their spouse’s, and clerks have had to turn them away.”