Wisconsin Elections Commission Chair Don Millis said he has “no plans” to call a meeting to rescind commission guidance barring absentee voters from changing their vote after casting a ballot.

The commission adopted the new absentee ballot guidelines on July 9 after some voters asked election clerks to “spoil” their submitted absentee ballots and issue a new ballot because the candidate they had voted for had dropped out. 

Two Democratic appointees, Ann Jacobs and Vice Chair Mark Thomsen, voted against the guidelines. 

In a letter yesterday, the Democratic Party of Wisconsin asked the Election Commission to rescind its guidance, arguing the commission’s interpretation of the law was inconsistent with state statutes, constitutional principles and arguments made by AG Josh Kaul on the commission’s behalf. 

The letter also calls the guidance “ill-timed” coming weeks ahead of the August primaries.

“If not rescinded, the Guidance will preclude some Wisconsin voters from being able to cast a meaningful vote in the gubernatorial primary,” the letter reads. 

Some 80,699 absentee ballots out of 260,901 requested absentee ballots have been returned as of yesterday, according to the latest commission data.

Millis told WisPolitics that he believed the law was written to allow absentee voters to correct errors made while filling out a ballot – like tearing the paper ballot or coloring in the bubble for two candidates running for the same office – not for voters who wanted to change their vote after their ballot had been cast.

“The one you’ve spilled coffee on, that’s the one you can return. Once you’ve put it in a sealed envelope and handed it to the clerk, you’re not entitled to get it back,” said Millis, a GOP appointee. 

He added that asking clerks to spoil and replace ballots that could have been submitted weeks earlier would create an “administrative nightmare” and increase the likelihood of errors like those that kept absentee ballots from being counted in Madison in 2024 and 2025. 

Jacobs said the decision flew in the face of the commission’s historic guidance.

She also criticized the commission for making the change after absentee ballots had already gone out. 

“Quite simply, we should never do this to voters,” Jacobs wrote on X yesterday. “We shouldn’t change the rules in the middle of an election. We shouldn’t tell a court one thing & the voters another. Federal courts have long recognized the importance of NOT doing exactly this.” 

Wisconsin voters previously had the ability to cancel their previously submitted ballot and request a new one for any reason, as long as they complied with statutory deadlines. 

That policy was challenged by a 2022 lawsuit and barred by then-Waukesha County Circuit Court Judge Brad Schimel.

An appeals court vacated Schimel’s ruling in February on procedural grounds. 

“Allowing voters to spoil and recast their ballots was standard practice in Wisconsin prior to attempts by Republicans to file frivolous lawsuits to muddy the waters,” Democratic Party Chair Devin Remiker said in a statement.

He added that the party had decided to send the letter after consulting with “each of our Democratic candidate campaigns.” 

Two Democratic candidates – Missy Hughes and Sara Rodriguez – have dropped out of the governor’s race in recent weeks, while Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley reentered the race this weekend after previously dropping out. 

Millis pointed out that the appeals court decision had not addressed the merits of the plaintiffs’ case and said that the commission’s guidance prior to Schimel’s ruling was “long gone.” 

“The commission answered the hard question,” he said. “I’m convinced that’s what the law contemplates.”