Wisconsin Supreme Court Deals Blow to Democrats By Outlawing Their Favorite Vote Fraud Methods – Opinion

Friday was a day of victory for both ballot integrity and credibility. By a 4-3 vote, the Court ruled that Wisconsin law prohibited the use of ballot “drop boxes” in most circumstances and outlawed the vote-fraud tactic of ballot harvesting. This is the Wisconsin Circuit Court Judge’s ruling on Absentee Ballot boxes being illegal.

It’s a ruling feared by voting rights proponents, who said ahead of time such a decision would make it harder for voters — particularly those with disabilities — to return their absentee ballots. A ruling, many Republicans believed would prevent anyone from casting a vote in someone’s name was what they wanted.

The 4-3 ruling came a month before the state’s Aug. 9 primaries, when voters will narrow the fields for governor and U.S. senator. Nationally, both contests are closely monitored.

Ballot drop boxes have been used in Wisconsin for years without any controversy. During the coronavirus pandemic, absentee voting reached unprecedented heights and election clerks significantly increased their usage in 2020.

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The state’s high court on Friday ruled that means voters themselves must return absentee ballots and cannot use drop boxes.

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Wisconsin law says no person may “receive a ballot from or give a ballot to a person other than the election official in charge.” Those bringing the lawsuit argued that policy must be strictly followed, meaning it would be illegal for someone to drop their elderly parents’ ballots off for them or for church members to gather ballots after a service and then take them to a clerk’s office.

This assessment was unanimously accepted by the majority.

Republicans are most worried about the large-scale attempts to collect votes by partisan agents. Although some may have done it in other states as well, none of the sides deployed large-scale operations in Wisconsin for ballot collection in 2020 when Joe Biden narrowly beat President Donald Trump.

The lower court ruled that ballots returned by mail could be placed into mailboxes only by voters themselves — a finding that alarmed advocates for the disabled because some voters physically cannot get to the polls or place their ballots in the mail.

In 2020, the Wisconsin voting process was so rife with corruption that no one will ever know who won (I’m just saying that to be bipartisan, I think we all know who won). The total number of registered voters in 64 nursing homes was 100% in three Wisconsin counties. Another two counties saw over 95% participation of nursing home residents. Ballot “drop boxes” were set up willy-nilly in response to court orders. These kinds of “irregularities” and outright fraud were carried out with impunity, see Group Files Emergency Petition in Wisconsin to Stop Certification After Finding ‘Over 150,000 Potentially Fraudulent Ballots’ and Trump Campaign Focusing on Unlawful Use of Absentee Ballot Process to Avoid Wisconsin ID Requirement.

It is crucial to lock down the two points that allow for vote fraud entry before elections are underway. This ruling by the state supreme courts invalidates other state court judges who are compliant and calm. This means there can be no ruling by a lower court judge establishing “drop boxes” and allowing ballot harvesting. Federal courts are forbidden from interfering with election rules by the US Supreme Court. It is interesting that the US Supreme Court issued this order after a Wisconsin federal judge changed rules regarding absentee voting in 2020.

The ruling must at least ensure that election-day rules are consistent with those passed by Wisconsin’s legislature.

This is a good result for Republicans in Wisconsin in 2022, especially when viewed in the light of the victory by the Supreme Court in stopping an illegal power grab from Tony Evers in Wisconsin (read ).