Wis. Judge Changes Law 4 Months Before Election Day

With four months to go before Election Day, Judge Everett Mitchell in Dane County, Wisconsin, ruled that disabled state voters can request and download electronic ballots, potentially creating an administrative headache in the battleground state this fall.

According to the New York Post, Mitchell issued a temporary injunction last week that effectively modifies a portion of the election administration in a state that had problems tabulating absentee ballots in the 2020 presidential election.

The judge's injunction allows voters who self-certify they cannot read or complete a ballot unaided to request electronic ballots from election clerks, which can be completed with assistive technology and mailed back.

The ruling leaves little time for clerks in nearly 2,000 municipalities to adjust to the change.

According to The Associated Press, deputy attorneys from Democrat Attorney General Josh Kaul's office argued the change in procedure could create confusion among voters and clerks, as well as security risks.

"This court cannot change the rules of the election now ... regardless of how hard or easy it is to make those changes," Assistant Attorney General Karla Keckhaver told Mitchell at a hearing last week, according to the AP.

More than 72 county clerks and 1,800 municipal clerks are responsible for administering Wisconsin's election.

According to the AP, the hearing was part of a lawsuit filed in April by Disability Rights Wisconsin, the League of Women Voters and four disabled people. The groups contend that many people with disabilities cannot cast paper ballots without assistance, which violates their right to cast their vote in secret.

Current Wisconsin law allows military and overseas voters to request absentee paper ballots and mail them back.

Prior to the judge's injunction, disabled voters would have cast their ballot in the same way as an absentee voter, which would be to request an absentee ballot from the local election clerk, complete the paper ballot after receiving it in the mail, and mail it back or drop it off at the clerk's office.

Republican state lawmakers filed an appeal in Waukesha County, according to the Post, arguing that Mitchell is changing the status quo just before a major election.

The Wisconsin Elections Commission would not comment on ongoing litigation.