(May 25, 2022 – Madison, Wisconsin) Voters in Wisconsin’s five largest cities filed lawsuits over the use of illegal unmanned absentee ballot drop boxes in elections. Thomas More Society attorneys submitted the complaints on May 25, 2022, on behalf of voters in the cities of Green Bay, Kenosha, Madison, Milwaukee, and Racine.
Wisconsin election law precludes the use of unmanned absentee ballot drop boxes for voting, and yet each of these cities implemented them, despite their illegality, explained Thomas More Society Special Counsel Erick Kaardal.
“In 2020, the cities of Milwaukee, Madison, Racine, Kenosha, and Green Bay made an agreement with the nonprofit Center for Tech and Civic Life to use the drop boxes to get these cities’ residents to vote,” reported Kaardal. “This so-called ‘Wisconsin Safe Voting Plan,’ involved $8.8 million of private grants to these five cities, to target specific populations to vote. It had little, if anything at all to do with keeping voters safe from Covid-19, as it purported to do.”
The lawsuits come only after the Wisconsin Elections Commission refused in April 2022 to investigate each of the five cities for violating Wisconsin law as it pertains to unmanned drop boxes. The commission’s refusal to investigate came after the Waukesha County Circuit Court conclusively determined in January 2022, in a case involving the Wisconsin Election Commission, that the unmanned drop boxes were legally unauthorized under Wisconsin law.
“My clients have done everything in their power to get the Wisconsin Elections Commission to investigate the ‘Wisconsin 5’ cities for their policies of using the illegal drop boxes,” added Kaardal. “Nonetheless, the Wisconsin Elections Commission refuses to investigate these known illegalities. Because the Wisconsin Elections Commission has made itself irrelevant, we now turn to the great circuit courts of Brown, Dane, Kenosha, Milwaukee and Racine Counties for judicial remedies to prevent these cities from using illegal drop boxes as they did, by agreement and with private funding, in the November 2020 election. Never again.”
Read the Complaints filed on May 25, 2022, in the Wisconsin circuit courts of Brown, Dane, Kenosha, Milwaukee and Racine Counties by Thomas More Society attorneys on behalf of Wisconsin voters alleging election violations:
- Theresa A. Sipes & Donald E. Schneider v. City of Green Bay and Celestine Jeffreys, City Clerk in Circuit Court of Brown County here [https://thomasmoresociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Absentee-Ballot-Drop-Box-Complaint-Green-Bay.pdf].
- Dean Romano v. City of Kenosha and Debra Gimler or her successor, City Clerk – Interim in Circuit Court of Kenosha County here [https://thomasmoresociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Absentee-Ballot-Drop-Box-Complaint-Kenosha.pdf].
- Jodell Ann Gilligan v. City of Madison and Maribeth Witzel-Behl, City Clerk in Circuit Court of Dane County here [https://thomasmoresociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Absentee-Ballot-Drop-Box-Complaint-Madison.pdf].
- Jim Engstrand v. City of Milwaukee, Claire Woodall-Vogg – Executive Director of Milwaukee Elections Commission, and Jim Owczarski, City Clerk in Circuit Court of Milwaukee County here [https://thomasmoresociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Absentee-Ballot-Drop-Box-Complaint-Milwaukee.pdf].
- Sandy Weidner v. City of Racine and Tara Coolidge, City Clerk in Circuit Court of Racine County here [https://thomasmoresociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Absentee-Ballot-Drop-Box-Complaint-Racine.pdf].
About the Thomas More Society
The Thomas More Society is a national not-for-profit law firm dedicated to restoring respect in law for life, family, religious liberty, and election integrity. Headquartered in Chicago and with offices across the country, Thomas More Society fosters support for these causes by providing high quality pro bono legal services from local trial courts all the way up to the United States Supreme Court. For more information, please visit thomasmoresociety.org.
The Thomas More Society officially launched its own Election Integrity Initiative in 2022 to preserve and protect Americans’ sacred right to vote against those who would use money or other illegal means such as conditional “gift” or “grant” agreements to distort, evade or compromise electoral laws and safeguards.
