WISCONSIN – The right to vote absentee has been protected by a judge in Dane County, WIsconsin. The former city clerk of Madison Maribeth Witzel-Behl argued to the court that the negligence lawsuit lodged against her for failing to count 193 ballots in the 2024 election should be discarded due to antiquated language referring to voting by absentee ballot as a “privelege.”
In response, Judge David Conway ruled against Wizel-Behl, affirming that voting by absentee is still an act exercising a citizen’s constitutional right to vote. He wrote “once a voter casts a valid absentee ballot that complies with the Legislature’s rules for utilizing the absentee process, the voter has exercised the same constitutional right to vote as someone who casts a valid in-person ballot at a polling place. And that right to vote would be a hollow protection if it did not also include the right to have one’s vote counted.”
Members of the Democracy Defense Project – Wisconsin (DDP-WI) board released the below statement applauding the decision to protect Wisconsin citizens’ right to vote via all legal methods ascribed by the legislature.
“When you vote in Wisconsin, you should be assured that your vote will be counted. The failure of a clerk to fulfill the duties of their office does not mean that Wisconsin citizens should have their right to vote infringed across the state. This decision is a reinforcement of the security of Wisconsin elections – we work diligently to identify any discrepancies and hold those failures accountable.”
– The DDP-WI board includes former Attorney General JB Van Hollen, Former Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, Former. U.S. Rep. Scott Klug, and former Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair Mike Tate.
More information on the Democracy Defense Project can be found at https://www.democracydefenseproject.org/wi.
Media Contact: Justin Giorgio, jg@k2andcompany.com
