Two Madison voters are suing the Wisconsin Elections Commission after the agency ordered local election officials to reject their absentee ballots even though the city clerk’s office received them before the April 7 election.
The state commission ruled 23 absentee ballots in all should be removed from local election totals because the Madison Clerk’s office delivered them to polling sites after 8 p.m. on the day of the election, past the deadline for them to be counted under state law.
But the lawsuit, filed May 6 by the progressive firm Law Forward, argues it would be inappropriate to reject the ballots because local officials failed to deliver them to the polls by the 8 p.m. deadline on election day. The commission’s decision contravenes the Wisconsin Constitution and precedent stretching back to the 1870s that voters can’t be disenfranchised because of errors by election officials, the suit argues.
“Election official negligence cannot impede Plaintiffs’ right to vote,” the suit argues.
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It seeks a directive for local election officials to include the absentee ballots of Margaret and Robert Honig in the final results of the spring election, along with a declaration that the commission’s order was an unconstitutional invasion of the plaintiffs’ right to vote.
The lawsuit in Dane County urges swift action, noting the deadline to complete the state canvass of the April 7 election is May 15.
The Elections Commission voted 5-1 last week to direct the boards of canvass for Madison and Dane County to redo their tallies of the April 7 results to discount the 23 ballots. The commissioners found local officials had abused their discretion in counting the votes since they didn’t arrive at polling sites until after 8 p.m. the day of the election.
Chair Ann Jacobs, a Dem appointee, argued commissioners were bound by statute, which requires ballots to be received by 8 p.m. to be counted. Still, she hoped the voters impacted would challenge their votes not being counted.
Madison and Dane County officials yesterday complied with the commission’s order to drop 23 votes from their canvass totals. Still, the Dane County Board of Canvass voted 2-1 to appeal the decision in circuit court.
The local governments have until later this month to appeal the commission’s ruling. According to today’s lawsuit, neither the city nor county has indicated plans to take action before the May 15 deadline to finalize election results.