Absentee Ballot Boxes Helped Republicans, Too

Republican legislators who want to stop voters from putting their absentee ballots in drop boxes before elections may want to consider how many of those boxes were used in communities that overwhelmingly vote for Republicans.

A conservative law firm recently got a Waukesha County judge to declare drop boxes illegal, although the decision has been appealed. And Republicans on a joint legislative committee gave the Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC) 30 days to draft a drop-box rule which the same committee could then block.

Republicans object to drop boxes used in Democratic strongholds like Milwaukee and Madison before the 2020 presidential elections — turnouts that helped Democrat Joe Biden beat former Republican President Donald Trump in Wisconsin.

But drop boxes were also used in Republican strongholds. For example:

-The Village of Oostburg, home of Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu used a drop box. Oostburg voters favored Trump over Biden by more than a four to one margin, 1,599 to 357.

 -Voters in Chilton, a city in Calumet County also represented by LaMahieu, had a drop box option and backed Trump, 1,236 votes to 705.

 -A drop box was used in the Village of Menomonee Falls, home of Rep. Janet Brandtjen, chair of the Assembly Committee on Campaigns and Elections who has been critical of how the presidential election was run in Wisconsin and who is waiting for changes in election laws to be recommended from the investigation of former Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman. Menomonee Falls voters backed Trump, 13,882 to 11,077.

-Drop boxes were in place in two Waukesha County cities represented by Senate Republicans. In the City of New Berlin, part of the district of Republican Sen. Julian Bradley, Trump got 15,994 votes; Biden, 11.350. In Brookfield, represented by Republican Sen. Dale Kooyenga, Trump won 14,807 to 12,462.

-Voters in the Town of Lake Holcomb, a Chippewa County community represented by Republican Sen. Kathy Bernier, chairman of the Senate’s elections committee, backed Trump by 451 to 167 votes.

Before the November 2020 presidential election, the Elections Commission issued guidelines for local clerks that allowed them to set up secure drop boxes for voters who wanted to drop off their absentee ballots instead of risking COVID-19 infections by standing in lines on election day.

Clerks then set up a record 500 drop boxes statewide.

But many Republican legislators, led by Sen. Steve Nass, want to eliminate or restrict drop boxes, saying state law doesn’t specifically allow them. Many of the drop boxes are tamper-proof, monitored electronically and are in or just outside public buildings.

lllinois is the only neighboring state that also allows drop boxes, according to the Legislative Audit Bureau report on the 2020 election.

The Elections Commission  “must now either issue emergency rules within 30 days or cease issuing their guidance on absentee ballot drop boxes and the correction of errors/omission on absentee ballots,” said Nass, cochairman of the Joint Committee for Review of Administrative Rules. Elections Commission rules could then be blocked by that committee.

Democrats say the lawsuit to end drop boxes, brought by the conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty (WILL), and Nass’s moves are efforts to lower voter turnout.

Waukesha County Circuit Judge Michael Bohren’s ruling resulted from a suit “brought by Republican operatives [and] is an attack on our freedom to vote,” said State Democratic Party Chair Ben Wikler. Wikler called drop boxes ““easy and accessible” and added, “Drop boxes are not new, but they became more widely used than ever in 2020 when Wisconsinites were voting during the coronavirus pandemic. They remain necessary as we face new COVID variants.”

Although a state Justice Department lawyer said WEC only provided “guidance” to local clerks and did not tell them to use drop boxes, WILL attorney Luke Berg disagreed.

Under WEC’s interpretation, Berg said, “A shoebox on a bench would be legal for collecting ballots. Now, that’s absurd, of course, but that’s the logical consequence of the position that the commission is taking.”

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel said Bohren’s order also prevents voters from having spouses, family members, neighbors or friends drop off their absentee ballots with poll workers — which Republicans call “ballot harvesting.”

“It’s all good and nice, but there’s no authority to do it,” said Bohren, who on Friday ordered that drop boxes not be used for the February municipal primary.

Steven Walters started covering the Capitol in 1988. Contact him at stevenscotwalters@gmail.com