The Sconi

As the Wisconsin Supreme Court reevaluates a landmark 2022 decision restricting absentee ballot drop boxes, Pat Garrett, Communications Director of the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, expressed concerns over revisiting established legal precedent. 

The original ruling, enacted under a conservative majority, limited drop box placement to county clerk offices. With a liberal shift in the court's composition, the decision's reconsideration holds immense implications for the forthcoming 2024 presidential election.

“It’s extraordinary that a two-year old decision that simply followed the statutory text is being revisited. We hope that the Wisconsin Supreme Court will follow the law, rather than change it,”  Garrett told The Sconi. 

The Wisconsin Supreme Court, now liberal-leaning, is on the brink of reversing a 2022 ruling that restricted the use of absentee ballot drop boxes in the state. 

The original decision was made when conservatives held a 4-3 majority on the court, but with liberals now in control, the court is reconsidering the ruling.

Reversing this ruling would restore the use of drop boxes across Wisconsin. 

This shift could have significant implications for the 2024 presidential election in the critical battleground of Wisconsin. 

The liberal justices argue that state law doesn't explicitly forbid drop boxes and refute claims of past fraud associated with them. 

Conservative justices, however, remain skeptical, questioning the constitutionality and textual basis for allowing drop boxes. 

The case underscores broader tensions with progressives challenging restrictive measures enacted in the wake of the 2020 election amid lingering claims of fraud.

This reversal, if enacted, could have significant implications for the 2024 presidential election in Wisconsin. 

Despite conservative justices expressing concerns about judicial overreach, the prevailing sentiment suggests a potential reinstatement of drop boxes ahead of the upcoming election, underscoring broader debates about voting access and democratic processes.

“You are asking this court to become a super legislature and give free rein, despite what the statutes say, give free rein to municipal clerks to conduct elections however they see fit,” Justice Rebecca Bradley, a conservative said, according to the Washington Post. “That, counsel, seems to me to be the greater danger to democracy because you’re asking this court to override what the legislature wrote.”

The court's liberal justices challenged the legality of the previous decision, highlighting the absence of statutory prohibition against drop boxes. 

Recently, four liberal justices indicated they believed the previous decision was erroneous, noting that state law does not explicitly address drop boxes. Justice Jill Karofsky pointed out that Wisconsin statutes do not prohibit drop boxes. She emphasized the lack of evidence for fraud or abuse related to their use in the 2020 election. 

“What if we just got it wrong?” Karofsky, a liberal, said of the earlier absentee ballot, according to AP News. “What if we made a mistake? Are we now supposed to just perpetuate that mistake into the future?”

The liberal justices also argued that conservatives’ claims that drop boxes had previously been sources of fraud were wrong.