YES! This State Just Ruled Against Absentee Drop Boxes!

On Friday, Wisconsin’s Supreme Court ruled that absentee ballot drop boxes are illegal under state law, delivering a win for conservatives challenging the Wisconsin Elections Commission and a blow to state Democrats.

Wisconsin Supreme Court’s 4-3 ruling declares absentee drop boxes are illegal unless located in election offices.

Here’s what the high court said:

“An absentee ballot must be returned by mail or the voter must personally deliver it to the municipal clerk at the clerk’s office or a designated alternate site. The record evidence [the Wisconsin Elections Commission] cited does not support its argument that ballot drop boxes have been in common and longstanding use in this state.”

The drop boxes can only be placed INSIDE election offices.

BREAKING: Wisconsin Supreme Court rules 4-3 that absentee drop boxes are illegal in the state.

— DailyNoah.com (@DailyNoahNews) July 8, 2022

BREAKING: In a historic vindication for Trump, Wisconsin Supreme Court details how use of drop boxes and ballot harvesting in 2020 presidential elections was illegal. https://t.co/wmTOKheHTa

— Tom Fitton (@TomFitton) July 8, 2022

In 4-3 decision, Wisconsin Supreme Court bans the use of ballot drop boxes. https://t.co/Y9zVM3v1NV

— Patrick Marley (@patrickdmarley) July 8, 2022

The Friday ruling from Wisconsin’s highest court came as a result of a lawsuit filed in May by the Thomas More Society on behalf of state voters, who took legal action against the cities of Green Bay, Kenosha, Madison, Milwaukee, and Racine for their illegal use of unmanned drop boxes during the 2020 election cycle.

A report at the Gateway Pundit said that deals “critical defeats to Democrats in the battleground state.”

More details of the ruling from an AP report:

Wisconsin’s conservative-controlled Supreme Court ruled Friday that absentee ballot drop boxes may be placed only in election offices and that no one other than the voter can return a ballot in person, dealing a critical defeat to Democrats in the battleground state.

The court did not address the question of whether anyone other than the voter can return his or her own ballot by mail. Election officials and others had argued that drop boxes are a secure and convenient way for voters to return ballots.

The decision sets absentee ballot rules for the Aug. 9 primary and the fall election; Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson and Democratic Gov. Tony Evers are seeking reelection in key races.

The court’s 4-3 ruling also has critical implications in the 2024 presidential race, in which Wisconsin will again be among a handful of battleground states. President Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump in 2020 by just under 21,000 votes, four years after Trump narrowly won the state by a similar margin.

The popularity of absentee voting exploded during the pandemic in 2020, with more than 40% of all voters casting mail ballots, a record high. At least 500 drop boxes were set up in more than 430 communities for the election that year, including more than a dozen each in Madison and Milwaukee — the state’s two most heavily Democratic cities.

You can read the ruling from the Wisconsin Supreme Court HERE.

As of June 2022, more than 20 states have passed laws to ban or restrict public officials’ use of private funds when conducting elections.

Sources: WLT, AP