A small town in Wisconsin could face legal action from the Department of Justice for its refusal to offer voters with disabilities electronic voting machines instead of paper ballots.
The town of Thornapple, Wisconsin, is breaking the law by refusing to make voting machines available to voters with disabilities, according to a complaint filed with the Wisconsin Elections Commission. This comes after the Justice Department warned the town against its practice of only using hand-counted, paper ballots during the state’s primary election earlier this year.
“By ceasing to use electronic voting equipment and, instead, exclusively using paper ballots completed and tabulated by hand, Respondents are no longer using voting systems that are accessible for individuals with disabilities in a manner that provides the same opportunity for access and participation (including privacy and independence) as for other voters,” the complaint said.
Disability Rights Wisconsin is seeking for the WEC to mandate that Thornapple make accessible voting machines available. The group said it wants to ensure every voter in the town of 711 residents is capable of casting his or her own private ballot this election.
“This is not the situation of a machine that just isn’t functioning that day at the polling place,” Disability Rights Wisconsin Director of Legal and Advocacy Services Kit Kerschensteiner told Wisconsin Public Radio.
“This is a place that has chosen specifically, knowing that they were disenfranchising individuals with disabilities, and choosing to go ahead and do that, which we find to be unacceptable,” she continued.
While it is not illegal for local municipalities to remove electronic ballot counters, they are required to leave at least one available for voters with disabilities. The DOJ warned Thornapple against this practice a month before Disability Rights Wisconsin filed its complaint with the WEC.
Federal investigators determined the town failed to make “at least one direct recording electronic voting system or other voting system equipped for individuals with disabilities available at each polling place, including during the April 2, 2024, federal primary election,” according to a letter obtained by Votebeat. The DOJ said Thornapple could avoid legal action by entering a “consent decree” with the federal government.
Thornapple residents said the town did not end the practice in the state’s August primary. In May, Thornapple Town Board Supervisor Tom Zelm told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel the town’s decision to pull electronic voting machines was made in June 2023 but did not provide a specific reason.
Rusk County Democratic Party Chairwoman Erin Webster said the decision is tied to former President Donald Trump’s false claims the 2020 presidential election was stolen. She pointed to a video from the town supervisor, Jack Zupan, which was posted on YouTube, in which Zupan tells Webster the electronic voting machines were being done away with because “we believe that there was a stolen election and the computers have to go because they are full of error.”
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Webster also filed a complaint with the WEC prior to the disability rights group’s complaint.
“I’m not disabled. It didn’t affect me like that. It was more just the principle of, what are you guys doing?” Webster said. “Why are you not having machines here?”
