Most, if not all, Dane County municipalities will be reimplementing ballot drop boxes in time for upcoming elections following the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling overturning the ban on drop boxes on July 5, according to County Clerk Scott McDonell.
The Wisconsin Election Commission met June 11 to provide guidance on secure ballot drop box procedures to local election administrators. Along with safety recommendations, they encouraged local officials to inform their constituents of drop box locations and availability.
When the ruling was announced, the City of Madison said they anticipated the drop boxes to be open for use in the Aug. 13 legislative primaries. Municipal Clerk Thomas Lund told The Daily Cardinal due to complexities preparing and outfitting them with relevant information, he’s not certain they’ll be ready in time.
Before they were outlawed in 2022, drop boxes had been used in areas of the state for over 10 years, and some voters relied on them heavily to cast absentee ballots. During the 2020 election, there were 528 drop boxes in Wisconsin, and 41% of U.S. absentee and mail-in votes were cast via drop box.
After President Joe Biden narrowly won Wisconsin by 20,600 votes the integrity of ballot drop boxes were brought into question. Former President Donald Trump falsely claimed the boxes led to voter fraud, requested a vote recount and ultimately sued to disqualify absentee ballots cast early and in-person in Dane and Milwaukee counties.
“Some states have used dropboxes since the 1990s, with long track records of fair elections without any significant problem resulting from the drop boxes,” said Barry Burden, a University of Wisconsin-Madison political science professor.
In October 2021, the bipartisan Wisconsin Election Commission reported no evidence of fraud associated with drop boxes in the 2020 election.
“There is, unfortunately, a tendency of voters to follow the lead of the rhetoric they are hearing from leaders in their parties, which is often not really attached to the facts about how the election system works,” Burden said.
While Madison’s 14 drop boxes were out of commission, they were transformed into artwork that displayed messages informing residents about voting with absentee ballots and criticizing the court's decision.
“When you consider students and working people who don’t have time to go to the City Clerk’s office before 5 p.m. ballot drop boxes really increase access to being able to vote and making the process easier,” said Amanjot Kaur, co-founder and president of the Student Voter Union.
Wisconsin student voters comprised almost 7% of the eligible state voting population in 2022. The restoration of this voting path, which allows for 24-hour absentee ballot drop off until election day, may give students one more reason to vote, according to Kaur.
McDonell said drop boxes are important in the last week of an election when some voters are concerned about mail-in ballots arriving late and being disqualified.
“Now, if I fill out my ballot at home before an election, I can drop it in the drop box instead of worrying about it being lost in the mail,” Kaur said.
The Aug. 13 legislative primaries will take place around the time many Madison students move on or off campus. With campus being busy, it may be difficult for students to get to the polls and ballot drop boxes may be a helpful option, District 8 Ald. MGR Govindarajan said.
Whether Madison’s ballot drop boxes, currently located in front of 13 fire stations and Elver Park, will reopen for the primaries is unclear. Govindarajan expressed confidence in local officials' ability to get the word out to students via the Madison City Clerk’s office.
