Wisconsin Supreme Court outlaws ballot drop boxes for elections

Question...do you disagree that the Republican state legislatures across the country are actually TRYING TO MAKE IT HARDER TO VOTE? Yes or no?

 

Except their interpretation required reading language into the statute that wasn't written into it, despite being written into other statutes. Specifically, it required reading in the word "office." Delivering the absentee ballot to the clerk's drop box is indeed delivering it "in person" to the "municipal clerk." The clerks are granted wide discretion in determining how they want to collect the ballots.

Another reading of the statute would result in absurdity. Absentee ballots aren't counted unless they're literally handed to the municipal clerk? Ridiculous. If you hand them to an employee of the clerk or put them in a basket inside the clerk's office for the clerk to retrieve at close of business, that would result in your ballot being invalidated? Nobody thinks that's a reasonable reading of the statute.

None of that changes the plain text of the statute. It requires delivering in person to the municipal clerk. The municipal clerk is granted the discretion to determine how they want to collect the ballots, as long as they aren't violating statutory law. Just like a person can deliver it in person to an agent of the clerk, there is nothing forbidding them delivering it in person to a receptacle the clerk set up for that purpose. If they had wanted to require delivery in person to the clerk's physical office, they could have written that in the statute.

This case like so many others is all about "judges" reaching an outcome based on their politics. They had two possible interpretations of the statute. They chose the one that required writing in language that wasn't there and burdening a fundamental right. Why? Because it accorded with their politics. And then Rebecca Bradley wrote an absolute shit show of an opinion.

 

The adults are talking. Go back to the kids' table.

 

This is wonderful news for disabled or immobile elderly other voters who now can’t even give a ballot to a family member to drop of or put in the mail. Well, just don’t vote then. As for others: no difference dropping off a ballot in a mail box or a drop box. Except that mail slowdowns can target areas do ballots arrive late. The tactic is evident.

 

The statute is the product of voter suppression intent anyway.

 

I am under the impression that drop boxes are not outlawed, as the OP stated. The ruling was that drop boxes have to be supervised and they should be in an official office.

 

I am honestly torn on this issue.

On one hand, would I be shocked that a major political party in our country might use sleazy tactics to help its cause? Heck no.

On the other hand can i see the concern from a growingly easier voting system that seems to be slipping into an area where fraud could be easier? Heck yeah.

The question is, what do you do?

Should the easier methods be reserved for those in need of it. Maybe attach it to ADA requirements?

But should some gamer, too lazy to get off his couch really be allowed to contribute to the system from his couch? (I mean we probably dont want that dude making electoral choices anyway lol)

Its really not as simple as either side makes it.

I am in the camp of only fix it when proven broken, I suppose, but how would we know? The media outlets have taken their sides. Their wont be any objective reporting. The two parties have all the cash to make things "work" their way.

I think the truth is, we are all just along for the ride and have no clue what is going on in back rooms of counties around the country.

 

Mail in ballots have a bar code to track, whether you mail your ballot or use a drop box.

From the Brennan Center:

• Individualized ballot envelopes: Mail ballot packets sent to voters are individualized for each voter and include individualized return envelopes. The ballot envelopes generally include an individualized serial number or bar code as a mechanism to ensure there is only one vote per individual voter. Indeed, most election jurisdictions now use some form of bar code on their ballot envelopes. These bar codes allow election officials to keep track of ballot processing and help voters know whether their ballot has been received. Bar codes also allow states to identify and eliminate duplicate ballots if more than one ballot has been cast in a voter’s name, whether mistakenly or corruptly.
• Ballot Tracking: Knowing where a mail ballot is during all steps of its round-trip journey — from an election office to a voter and back to an election office for processing and tabulation — limits the opportunity for a ballot to be diverted from where it should be and to whom it should be sent.
• 
  To read all of it:
• Mail Ballot Security Features: A Primer

 

Why not? He's bound by the system the same as any of us, so he should have a vote on who runs it.

Gatekeeping the franchise based on some abstract idea of worthiness is a dangerous path to tread. To you, maybe getting up and going to a polling place is sufficient effort. Others might want to see you demonstrate sufficient knowledge of current and historical events. Others still may want you to pass a literacy test (Jim Crow), or serve in the military (Heinlein), or have the correct party membership (CCP).

The problem with all of these ideas is they are inevitably designed to exclude a portion of the electorate that votes (at least on average) against the party doing the excluding.

These obstacles in Wisconsin are transparently not being put in place out of any higher-minded idea of fairness or election integrity or worthiness, but because, statistically speaking, the drop boxes were used with greater frequency by Democrats in the last election. So it is to the Republican's advantage to eliminate them, in the hopes that some of the Democrats who previously used them will not vote in the next election.

IMO make sure everyone can vote, and let the chips fall where they may.

 

Thanks for agreeing with me.

Very big of you

 

I have a neat yes or no question.

Do you still beat your wife? Lol

 

I think you caught him on a reading comprehension technicality, but congrats.

 

My state is 100% vote by mail or drop boxes and we do not have fraud. In my opinion, it’s anti-democratic made up concern by those afraid of additional voter engagement (though there’s evidence it only actually increases local voting engagement).

 

flgator2 was 100% correct. The Republican party is trying to make it harder to vote. They want to make voters have a valid ID, they want voters to actually be alive, they want voters to only vote 1 time. ..... Seems the Democrats just want to make it easy to vote and therefore easier to cheat the system.

 

What is wrong with a ballot box?

 

100% - they can't even make a cogent argument otherwise. In fact, it just makes me ask again...how far right are you willing to go before you say enough is enough?

 

Cute post. There is a conspiracy thread for you to add.

 

Any proof that with ballot drop boxes that v there has been massive voter fraud? The answer is unequivocally no. There have been isolated cases of fraud, but nothing on a large scale. So making voting harder to prevent fraud is a solution looking for a problem.