This article was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio
By Rich Kremer
A new lawsuit from the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin argues allowing clerks to decide whether or not to offer absentee voters a chance to correct information on their mail-in ballots violates the state Constitution.
The group is asking a Dane County judge to order a uniform and mandatory process for addressing defective ballots and notifying those who mail them.
The suit, filed Tuesday in Dane County Circuit Court, claims giving local clerks the discretion to create their own procedures for telling voters about how to fix missing or incomplete information on absentee ballot envelopes violates state Due Process provisions. The League of Women Voters of Wisconsin argues that’s because clerks in some communities can decide not to notify voters, who then won’t know their ballots weren’t counted until after the election.
“Accordingly, municipal clerks may arbitrarily determine whether and which defective ballots cast by mail-in absentee voters will ultimately be counted,” said League attorney Jon Sherman.
The lawsuit singles out what it calls a recent example in Mequon. In late April, Votebeat reported Mequon Clerk Caroline Fochs rejected at least 10 absentee ballots under a stricter standard than those used by clerks in other parts of the state. On May 1, the Wisconsin Elections Commission ruled that five of those ballots were wrongly excluded and must be counted in the official canvas.
The League argues that state lawmakers have tried and failed to amend the law to create a uniform standard for notifying voters about how to correct ballot envelopes. Therefore, the suit is asking the court to order the elections commission to “establish and issue uniform, mandatory procedures” requiring clerks to provide adequate notice and opportunity for voters to correct incomplete or missing information that could otherwise lead to ballots being rejected.
League of Women Voters of Wisconsin Director Debra Cronmiller told WPR voters shouldn’t have to wonder if their mail-in ballots will be accepted. She said it is a matter of fairness.
Under the existing rules, Cronmiller said, voters may not learn their vote was rejected until weeks after the election when the canvass is complete.
“What we’re trying to ask clerks to do is, please make the attempt. It could fail. The voter could not respond, the voter could not come in, but at least the voter would have the knowledge that their vote is not going to be counted in that election,” she said.
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