Wisconsin law requires that when a person witnesses someone completing their absentee ballot, the witness needs to sign and put their address on the envelope of the ballot.
However, until 2022, election clerks could "cure" absentee ballots by completing a witness's address or other missing information. In 2022, a Waukesha County judge ruled that clerks could not do that anymore. This meant if the witness forgot to dot an "i" or cross a "t", or left a number out of their zip code, the ballot got tossed without being counted.
This ruling, in turn, led to another lawsuit filed by a Madison voter and the pro-democracy group Rise Inc. A Dane County judge ruled in that case that clerks could accept a ballot even if the witness information is incomplete, as long as the clerk could discern how to contact the witness. For example, if John Q. Voter completed an absentee ballot, which was witnessed by Mrs. Jane Q. Voter, who had the same address but forgot her zip code, and they have Ms. Jane Q. Voter registered at the same address, the clerk could figure out they are probably a married couple living together.
Last week, the Wisconsin Election Commission voted 5-1 to comply with the court order and have sent out uniform directions to all the clerks in the state on how to process the absentee ballots now. This is expected to reduce the number of ballots that get rejected.
Republican lawmakers, being deathly afraid of democracy, are already talking about appealing the ruling and at the same time, passing a bill that would strictly forbid clerks from accepting ballots that weren't fully completed. However, even if they win an appeal, it goes to the now liberal leaning supreme court. And even if they get a voter suppression bill passed through both houses, it would definitely be vetoed by Governor Tony Evers.
The thing about this story that really needs to emphasized is the one no vote from the election commission. The person that cast the no vote than Wisconsin's dear Robert Spindell, the fake elector who brags about suppressing Black and Hispanic voters in Milwaukee, the second largest Democratic bastion in the state.
Republican commissioner Bob Spindell voted against the motion to comply with the ruling, after first unsuccessfully proposing to require a witness to provide photo identification before clerks could make corrections received by the witness.
My Dog, can this guy be any more of an asshole?! (Don't answer that. It was a rhetorical question for which I unfortunately already know the answer).
On a side note, wouldn't it have been fun to be fly on the wall over at the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty? You know, the idiots that argued disabled voters don't exist. They must have thrown a real conniption fit over this.
