The Wisconsin Elections Commission provided new guidance Thursday that will allow state election officials to accept absentee ballot envelopes that are missing parts of witness address information.
In a 5-1 vote, with Republican Commissioner Bob Spindell voting against it, the commission decided that clerks could accept absentee ballots with partial witness information so long as the witnesses’ addresses are identifiable, the Wisconsin State Journal reported.
Dane County Judge Ryan Nilsestuen’s ruling last month prompted the elections commission to administer the new guidance after two liberal voting advocacy groups filed lawsuits claiming that people’s votes shouldn’t be invalidated because of a minor mistake. Under the old guidelines, clerks had to contact voters to obtain proper witness address information before their vote could be counted.
Spindell reportedly tried to amend the new rule by having voters prove a photo ID before corrections could be made to their absentee ballot but was unsuccessful, with all three Democratic members voting against the proposal.
The Republican-controlled legislature has appealed the court rulings.
State Republicans proposed a bill in early February that would prohibit election officials from certifying a returned absentee ballot unless it contains complete witness address information, including the voters’ full name, street name, apartment or house number, state, and ZIP code, according to the outlet.
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As of 2020, the state has received numerous lawsuits seeking to clarify the definition of a witness address, including former President Donald Trump’s lawsuit, which was denied by the state’s Supreme Court, arguing that absentee ballot votes filled out by witnesses in Milwaukee and Dane County shouldn’t have been counted.
In 2021, the Legislative Audit Bureau reviewed 14,710 absentee ballots counted in the 2020 election, of which 1,022 were missing parts of witness addresses, the outlet reported. The new guidance, which could cause more ballots to be counted, comes on the heels of the 2024 presidential election, where the highly contested battleground state will likely play a crucial role in deciding the fate of the election.
