For Milwaukeeans voting absentee in the upcoming election, ballot drop boxes will once again be among several options they have when returning completed ballots.
The ballot drop boxes weren’t always a guarantee for the 2024 election: amid conservative challenges to absentee voting, the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s then-conservative majority ruled in July 2022 that ballot drop boxes were illegal in Wisconsin. This summer, however, the newly liberal-controlled court reinstated the longstanding practice .
The challenges to ballot drop boxes stemmed from unfounded allegations by Republicans and former president Donald Trump that absentee voting was rife with fraud after his 2020 election loss. Democrats, meanwhile, have argued that drop boxes make voting more accessible.
Here’s everything to know about ballot drop boxes, from where they are located around Milwaukee to how the absentee ballots in drop boxes are counted on Election Day.
More: Here’s what to know about getting, returning an absentee ballot in Wisconsin