Judge Rules Absentee Ballots With Incomplete Witness Address Must Be Counted

From the Article:

A Dane County judge has ordered the Wisconsin Elections Commission to create new rules that allow local clerks to accept absentee ballots with missing witness address information.

The move could lead to more votes being counted in this year’s elections compared to in 2022. An attorney for the Republican-controlled state Legislature plans to appeal the ruling.

Dane County Circuit Court Judge Ryan Nilsestuen issued the ruling as part of a permanent injunction Tuesday. The order requires the commission to rescind guidance it sent to clerks in September stating the agency could no longer advise clerks on whether or not to accept absentee ballots with incomplete address information written on ballot envelopes by a voter’s witness.

In it’s place, Nilsestuen’s order requires the commission to notify clerks that ballots cannot be rejected if witness addresses are missing things like a ZIP code or municipality. It also states that witness addresses marked “same as voter” or “ditto” must be accepted if that person lives at the same residence as the voter.

“The right to vote is one of our most important, if not the most important, right,” Nilsestuen said. “And this furthers that.”

The injunction wasn’t unexpected. On Jan. 3, Nislestuen, a former chief legal counsel for Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, issued preliminary rulings on the witness address issue in cases brought by the League of Women Voters and the national youth organizing group Rise, Inc. At that time, he said rejecting absentee ballots due to incomplete witness addresses violates the federal Civil Rights act of 1964 and that the definition of an address should mean “a place where the witness can be communicated with.”