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Voters to soon use ballot drop boxes again
Wisconsin clerks have a deadline of Thursday to mail absentee ballots to voters who requested them. Clerks can also use drop boxes once again.
MILWAUKEE - Wisconsin clerks on Thursday, Sept. 19, have a deadline to mail out absentee ballots to voters who requested one.
Clerks can also use drop boxes once again.
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Every City of Milwaukee library branch has an absentee ballot drop box right in front. They're closed right now, but soon they'll open.
"In Milwaukee, all of the drop boxes are under 24-hour video surveillance. Pictures are taken before they are opened, after they are shut, and then there’s a documented chain of custody that is checked every step of the way," Issue One Senior Advisor Claire Woodall said. "When someone is picking up the ballots from the drop boxes, it’s two people. And then it’s verified the number of ballots they counted is the number of ballots being returned to the Election Commission."
Woodall is also the former director of the Milwaukee Election Commission.
"Drop boxes are checked every day in the City of Milwaukee, so you can go online to MyVote and on the same day or within 24 hours of returning your ballot, you can go to MyVote and see that it is returned," she said.
Each absentee ballot envelope has a barcode, so you can track if yours is sent out, and if your returned ballot has made it to your clerk. You can review the status on the MyVote WI’s website.
All Wisconsin absentee ballot drop boxes were closed in 2022, when the conservative-controlled Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled they broke state law.
Then this July, the now-liberal-controlled court reversed that earlier ruling and decided clerks could use them.
Dodge County Sheriff Dale Schmidt urged clerks in his county against bringing them back.
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They all agreed.
"That’s going to ensure election integrity in Dodge County," Schmidt said.
He also urged other clerks to verify the requirement, which has some exceptions, that the voter is returning their own ballot.
"A very good way to ensure that you have the right person dropping off the ballot box is having something similar to an ATM, something that takes a picture of the individual dropping off the ballot box, the ballot at the drop box," he said. "How else do you ensure that the individual is the person dropping off the ballot, as the Supreme Court requires."
Woodall called his rhetoric "disappointing."
"If you think of drop boxes and how they work, versus a United States Postal Service mailbox, they are very similar, except that there’s more security measures and more documentation with the use of drop boxes," she said.
Soon, Wisconsin voters will help decide who wins the White House, and some of those votes will land in drop boxes near you.