Four Wisconsin absentee voters have filed a federal lawsuit challenging the state requirement that a witness sign their ballot envelopes, arguing it violates the federal Voting Rights Act.
The suit argues the federal law bans requiring a voter to have someone vouch for their qualifications. It also argues locating a witness willing to attest to their qualifications to vote is a burden and seeks an order barring enforcement of the requirement.
The suit is the latest in Wisconsin to challenge requirements for those voting absentee as the state is again expected to be one of the most closely contested in the presidential election. One pending in Dane County Circuit Court, for example, seeks an order nullifying a requirement that those voting absentee have their ballot envelopes signed by a witness.
Wisconsin law requires those voting absentee to show their unmarked ballot to a witness before filling it out and sealing it in the required envelope in their presence. Voters then have to sign the envelope to attest they are entitled to vote, among other things. The witness then has to sign it as well.
The federal suit argues requiring a supporting witness to affirm the qualifications of a voter was a practice that grew out of the post-Civil War south as a way to prevent Blacks from registering to vote. It argues the Voting Rights Act banned the practice, and Wisconsin’s requirement is barred by a provision prohibiting any person to “prove his qualifications by the voucher of registered voters or members of any other class.”
“Put simply, Congress has determined that no U.S. citizen should be subjected to a voucher requirement in any circumstances,” the lawsuit argues.
The Wisconsin Elections Commission, one of the defendants, had no immediate comment.
Read the lawsuit here.
