(Molly Bruns, Headline USA) The Wisconsin Supreme Court has banned the use of unmanned drop boxes for ballot collection.
According to The Daily Wire, the Court ruled 4-3 that voters cannot turn in their ballots to unsupervised drop boxes and voters are also not allowed to give their ballots to others to drop off for them.
Voters in Wisconsin have the option to turn in their ballots in-person, or mail them in.
Drop boxes will also not be used in the state’s August primary or general elections.
“An absentee ballot must be returned by mail or the voter must personally deliver it to the municipal clerk at the clerk’s office or a designated alternative site,” the majority decision said.
The lawsuit was originally brought against the Wisconsin Election Commission and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee by two Wisconsin voters.
The documents observed during the trial included guidance from the WEC on mail in ballots and voting, with the lawsuit alleging that ballot drop boxes “causes doubts about the fairness of the elections and erodes voter confidence in the electoral process.”
“The key phrase is ‘in person’ and it must be assigned its natural meaning,” said Justice Rebecca Bradley, who wrote the majority decision.
She also said that election regulations regarding ballot drop boxes should come from the legislature.
“Only the legislature may permit absentee voting via ballot drop boxes,” she wrote.
The liberal leaning justices on the court argued that this move restricts the right to vote.
“Although it pays lip service to the import of the right to vote, the majority/lead opinion has the practical effect of making it more difficult to exercise it,” Justice Ann Walsh Bradley wrote in her dissent.
During the 2020 presidential election, there were about 500 drop boxes in use in the state of Wisconsin.
