Wisconsin judge rules that paper absentee ballots violate rights of certain disabled people
Advertisement
Read this article for free:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Digital Subscription
One year of digital access for only $205*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*First annual payment billed as $205.00 + GST for one year. This annual subscription will automatically renew at $233.00 + GST every 52 weeks (10% off the regular annual price of $259.35). Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional
$1 for the first 4 weeks*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Your next Brandon Sun subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $17.95 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $24.95 plus GST every four weeks.
Read unlimited articles for free today:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Absentee voting in Wisconsin discriminates against disabled voters, a judge ruled Tuesday, siding with groups that are seeking to force election officials to allow for electronic casting of ballots.
But Dane County Circuit Judge Everett Mitchell stopped short of ordering electronic voting, setting up a trial on that issue later. It almost certainly will not be resolved before the November election.
Disability Rights Wisconsin, the League of Women Voters and four disabled voters brought the lawsuit in 2024. They argued that the lack of an electronic absentee voting option violated their right to independence and privacy and the protections of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Mitchell issued a temporary injunction in 2024, saying that disabled voters should have the option to vote electronically. But an appeals court reversed that ruling, sending it back to the lower court, saying it was wrong to issue a temporary injunction that would have changed and “significantly disrupted the status quo.”
The Republican-controlled Legislature is fighting the lawsuit.
Mitchell ruled on Tuesday that the state’s absentee ballot program, which requires voters to complete and return a ballot on paper, denies disabled people “the equal opportunity to vote absentee privately and independently.”
The judge declined to order elections officials to offer electronic ballots to qualified disabled voters, saying the parties still disputed whether that was a reasonable remedy. The judge noted that those included the difficulty of instituting such a program and the risks involved.
Under his previous ruling, made before more facts in the case were presented, Mitchell said that voters who self-certify that they can’t read or mark a paper ballot without help would be eligible to request an electronic ballot.
Absentee ballots are currently emailed to military and overseas voters from Wisconsin.
Neither those who brought the lawsuit nor the Wisconsin Elections Commission had any estimates of how many disabled voters would request absentee ballots electronically.
Spokespeople for the elections commission and the Wisconsin Department of Justice, which represented the commission, did not immediately return messages seeking comment.
A hearing on the case is set for Aug. 12, where a potential trial date could be set.