Public Rights Project (PRP) recently filed a friend-of-the court (amicus) brief on behalf of a coalition of current elections officials in the Wisconsin Supreme Court in support of reinstating unstaffed drop boxes in Wisconsin. As lawsuits and unsubstantiated claims about drop boxes and voter fraud mount, PRP’s Election Protection Hub identified this case (Priorities USA v. Wisconsin Election Commission) as a key opportunity to defend local elections officials who have deep knowledge of their communities and are invested in the democratic process. The text below is an excerpt from the filing.
Amici are county and municipal clerks serving Dane County, Dunn County, Green County, Milwaukee County, City of Madison, City of Milwaukee, City of Stoughton, Town of Vermont, Village of Rib Mountain, and Village of Shorewood Hills.
With regard to elections, the primary duty of county and municipal clerks is to ensure that all eligible citizens in their jurisdictions can exercise the right to vote. Under state law, municipal clerks have “charge and supervision of elections and registration” and are given broad duties including “any [duties] which may be necessary to properly conduct elections[.]” Wis. Stat. § 7.15(1). County clerks also play a crucial role in conducting elections, including preparing and providing ballots and election supplies for all “national, state and county elections[.]” Wis. Stat. §§ 7.10(1)–(2).
Amici have relied on ballot drop boxes in the past as a secure, convenient, and reliable method for voters to submit their absentee ballots and hope to utilize ballot drop boxes for this purpose in the future. No counsel for a party authored this brief in whole or part, and no party or counsel for a party made a monetary contribution intended to fund its preparation or submission. No person other than amici or amici’s counsel made a monetary contribution to the preparation or submission of this brief. A list of all amici is available at Appendix A.
Clerks are deeply tied to the communities they serve and strive to provide the best possible service. This includes providing all eligible voters with convenient and accessible methods of voting and ensuring that voters can be confident in the privacy and security of their ballots. It also includes providing voters with an opportunity to cure any defects in their absentee ballot submissions and minimizing the number of ballots that arrive late due to postal service delays. Ballot drop boxes are an important tool for achieving each of these goals. Amici have a strong interest in ensuring that ballot drop boxes once again become an available tool for conducting elections.
Ballot drop boxes are a secure, convenient, and reliable method for voters to submit their absentee ballots. Before this court’s decision in Teigen v. Wisconsin Elections Commission, 403 Wis. 2d 607 (2022), municipal clerks across Wisconsin had regularly used ballot drop boxes, many since the 1980s or 1990s. Sixty-six of Wisconsin’s seventy-two counties used drop boxes in 20202—as did 39 U.S. states—without significant issues. Indeed, ballot drop boxes are a particularly secure method of returning absentee ballots because they can be constantly monitored and can be accessed only by the clerk of the jurisdiction or the clerk’s staff.
Drop boxes are convenient and efficient, both for voters and for clerks, because they allow voters to return their absentee ballots directly into a receptacle controlled by the municipal clerk without any concern as to whether the ballots will be timely received. The U.S. Postal Service recommends that absentee ballots be mailed at least a week before election day to allow sufficient time for the ballots to traverse through the postal system.4 Without drop boxes, absentee voters have no reliable means of submitting their ballots within the week before election day except to deliver it to the clerk’s office during operating hours.5 This places an undue burden on residents of rural communities with limited clerk’s office hours and on people who work long hours or care for family members. It also places additional burdens on municipal clerks who must both field inquiries about the status of ballots submitted by mail and address confusion surrounding ballots deposited in clerk’s office drop boxes intended for other purposes such as submission of utility and tax payments. Wisconsin municipal clerks serve a wide range of communities, varying in size from 22 registered voters to more than 300,000.6 State law accordingly gives municipal clerks broad authority to take actions “which may be necessary to properly conduct elections.” Wis. Stat. § 7.15(1). That authority should include the ability to determine whether to utilize secure drop boxes and where to locate them.
Most importantly, ballot drop boxes help to ensure that submitted ballots get counted. Many absentee ballots are submitted with superficial defects, such as a forgotten signature or a missing witness address. If these ballots arrive early, clerks are able to contact the voters and give them the opportunity to cure the defects. By eliminating postal service delays, drop boxes help to ensure that ballots arrive early enough to provide an opportunity to cure. Eliminating these delays also helps to reduce the number of absentee ballots that arrive after election day and cannot be counted.
04.18.2024 - Brief Of Amici Curiae Wisconsin Election Officials
