Catching up after time off, during which the Supreme Court dropped a couple big decisions. So if you, like me, were not engrossed in legal doings, read on to make your dinner party chatter better informed!
First, drop boxes are OK, according to the four-member majority!
Here's a bit of the coverage:
AP:
The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled Friday that officials can place ballot drop boxes around their communities in this fall’s elections, overturning its own ruling two years ago limiting their use in the presidential swing state.
NBC:
On the other side, many Republicans have continued to falsely claim that their use is tied to widespread voter fraud. But, in anticipation of the ruling, some Republicans in the state are now encouraging their voters to use ballot drop boxes this fall.
The New York Times (paywall).
On Friday, Mr. (Gov. Tony) Evers called the ballot drop box ruling a “victory for our democracy” and said, “We’re going to keep fighting to ensure that every eligible voter can cast their ballot safely, securely, and as easily as possible.
The mayor of Madison, Satya Rhodes-Conway, a Democrat, also praised the ruling in a statement. “I am so pleased that common sense has prevailed and that Wisconsin now has a high court interested in expanding voting rights, rather than restricting them,” she said.
Some Republicans saw it differently. Representative Tom Tiffany, whose congressional district includes much of northern Wisconsin, lamented in a statement that “the liberal Wisconsin Supreme Court voted to overturn a previous precedent they set” and said he believed the ruling went against the wishes of Wisconsin voters. Robin Vos, the speaker of the State Assembly, said in a statement that it was “sad and frustrating that liberal activist judges have taken the law into their own hands by ignoring previous court decisions to deliver a win to their political supporters.”
“Our decision today does not force or require that any municipal clerk use drop boxes. It merely acknowledges what [state law] has always meant: that clerks may lawfully utilize secure drop boxes in an exercise of their statutorily-conferred discretion,” (Justice Ann) Walsh Bradley said.
The heart of both Friday’s majority ruling and the court’s 2022 decision turned on the question of whether returning an absentee ballot to a drop box set up by the municipal clerk satisfied state law’s requirement that absentee ballots, if they are not mailed, must be delivered in person to the municipal clerk.
Whereas the previous conservative majority held that inanimate drop boxes cannot stand in for the municipal clerk, Walsh Bradley disagreed, essentially saying returning an absentee ballot to a drop box is the same as returning it to the clerk.
She further noted that in 2021 the Legislature tried to revise statutory language specifically to require ballots to be returned to the clerk’s office, but Governor Tony Evers vetoed the effort.
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The Supremes, in a 6-1 decision, also said that the Joint Finance Committee cannot stop the governor from making land stewardship purchases for which funding was already earmarked by the legislature.
Some of the coverage:
Evers sued the leaders of the Joint Committee on Finance after it blocked several conservation projects approved by his administration in the Department of Natural Resources through the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship program.
The projects have been blocked without holding public meetings to inform applicants why funding was denied. Members of the committee are permitted to anonymously object to a project, without any requirements for public disclosure.
The head of Wisconsin’s department of education celebrated Friday’s ruling, indicating that impacts will be felt broadly across state agencies.
State Superintendent Jill Underly urged the Joint Finance Commission to send out $50 million in funding that’s been approved by the full Legislature with the governor’s sign-off for implementing a new early literacy program.
“Today’s Supreme Court decision is a clear message to the Legislature that now is the time to refocus our energy on the needs of kids,” Underly said in a statement. “There can be no further delay, as local schools need to be ready to go on the first day of school. As I’ve said before, our kids are the ones who pay the price when adults hold students hostage and keep playing political games.”
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