MADISON – Ahead of the 2024 election cycle, Wisconsin election clerks have been advised to accept absentee ballots even when they are missing parts of witnesses’ addresses as long as the clerks can discern how to reach the witness.
The Wisconsin Elections Commission voted 5-1 last week to comply with a recent court ruling ordering election officials to accept absentee ballots with missing witness information after liberal groups sued over rules set by previous court rulings in lawsuits brought by conservative groups following the 2020 election.
Under the previous guidance, clerks could not accept ballots if they could not reach witnesses to correct absentee ballot envelopes that included incomplete address information.
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.
Dane County Circuit Judge Ryan Nilsestuen in January granted a request filed in September 2022 by a Madison voter and Rise Inc., a liberal group that seeks to mobilize young voters, to overhaul the guidance the Wisconsin Elections Commission provides to local clerks on how to proceed when a witness’ address is incomplete.