WI Supreme Court Rules Absentee Ballot Distribution Violated State Law, Opens Door For Challenges

The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled today that Governor Tony Evers and other state and municipal officers did not have the legal authority to expand the definition of “indefinitely confined” citizens to permit absentee voting without showing a state ID.

The ruling appears to open the door for the Trump campaign to challenge any absentee ballot cast in Wisconsin that was outside the legally defined rules to receive them.  This judicial decision was reached at the same time Wisconsin legislators voted to affirm their electors. The sad irony is thick.

The state’s highest court ruled only those voters whose “own age, physical illness or infirmity” makes them homebound could declare themselves “indefinitely confined” and avoid complying with a requirement for photo ID.  The avoidance of in-person voting under the auspices of COVID-19 mitigation was a violation of state law.

WISCONSIN – “We conclude that both the contention that electors qualify as indefinitely confined solely as the result of the COVID19 pandemic and the declared public health emergency and the contention that Wis. Stat. § 6.86(2)(a) could be used for those who ‘have trouble presenting a valid ID’ are erroneous because those reasons do not come within the statutory criteria,” the court ruled.  (Ruling Here)