Battle rages over ballot boxes in Wisconsin as officials put them at center of election integrity debate

They are stocky, motionless and seemingly harmless. However, since the high drama of the 2020 presidential election, the humble drop boxes have become more than a receptacle for absentee ballots; they have become a vessel for emotion, suspicion and even conspiracy theories.

On the battlefield in Wisconsin, in particular, the mere presence of these curbside containers inspired political activists and community leaders to conspire against them, calling on people to watch for them 24/7 and even to hijack them.

They have been the subject of two state Supreme Court decisions, as well as legal memos, local council meetings, press conferences and much hand-wringing.

Wausau Mayor Doug Diny messed with the box outside City Hall so much that he escaped with it one Sunday in September and isolated it in his office. He said it wasn’t anchored to the ground yet, so he wanted to keep it safe. The escape sparked a backlash, but earned the mayor a few admirers online before he was sent back.

“COURAGE IS CONTAGIOUS! NICE MR!” wrote one person on the conservative social networking site Gettr.

Once early voting begins for the November election and Wisconsin states receive their absentee forms, they can choose how to return them. Send it to them. Hand it over personally to the clerk of the municipality. Or, in some communities, place them in a collection box, usually outside a council building, library, community center or fire station.

Although election experts say the purpose of the election is to make voting a simple act, since the 2020 election, when the containers became a flashpoint for baseless conspiracy theories about voter fraud in Wisconsin and around the country, using dropboxes has not been complicated. THE discredited but popular documentary — “2,000 Mules” — linked them to ballot stuffing amid growing backlash over nonprofit funding that helped clerks facilitate voting through various measures, including drop boxes.

The film is distributed by Salem Media Group Inc. took it out of circulation in May and issued it in response to a lawsuit public apology to a Georgia voter for misrepresenting him as an illegal voter. A federal judge dismissed Salem Media Group as a defendant, but the lawsuit against the filmmaker and others continues.

With all this fanfare, the conservative Wisconsin Supreme Court outlawed the boxes in 2022. But this summer, with the court now under Liberal control, the justices ruled they were legal, ruling that municipal clerks could offer safe drop boxes in their communities. if they wanted.

The court’s recent decision made it clear that individual municipal clerks have the discretion to offer drop boxes to voters. But the decision didn’t change much about the boxes, and the confusion about whether they were a boon to democracy or a tool of tickling didn’t go away.

This year, four of Wisconsin’s largest cities are using dropboxes— MilwaukeeMadison, Green Bay and Racine. But several places that offered drop boxes in 2020, including Kenosha, the state’s fourth-largest city, have decided not to this year.

Voters have received mixed messages from right-wing activists and politicians about whether to use “boxes” as the GOP continues to fuel mistrust of the election while encouraging supporters to vote early — by any means necessary.

“Look, I’m not a fan of drop boxes, which isn’t surprising, but if you have to, it’s not a bad situation,” Catherine Engelbrecht, founder of True the Vote, which cast doubt on the election. integrity and helped inspire “2000 Mules,” he said in a video posted to social media on Sept. 30. It shows him taking a short tour of Madison, Wisconsin’s capital and Democratic stronghold.

With a camera trained on one of the boxes, Engelbrecht extolled that “the opening is very small, so that’s a good thing” and that “most of these boxes are near fire stations,” which he also called a good thing. thing. About a week later, he wrote in a newsletter that True the Vote had gathered the exact dropbox locations across the state and was working to set up live streams.

Unlike in 2020, when Trump warned use of absentee ballotsthis year, he’s urging supporters to “dirty the vote.” And the Republican Party of Wisconsin does not discourage voters from using ballot boxes if they are available and safe in their communities.

Still, Wisconsin GOP candidate for US Senate Eric Hovde urged citizen watch brigades to keep an eye on the boxes. – Who monitors how many illegal ballots are stuffed? – said Hovde to his supporters in July, according to a recording of his statements obtained by The Washington Post. “Look, you’re probably going to have to—make sure there’s someone standing by your scones everywhere.”

Most boxes are equipped with a security camera. This surveillance footage could be used as alleged evidence in legal cases if Trump loses on November 5th.

Engelbrecht has already filed a public records request with the Dane County Clerk’s Office for “copies of the security camera video footage used to monitor all outside and inside ballot boxes in Dane County during the November 2024 election.” The county, which is based in Madison, does not have access to the camera footage, which is kept by municipalities, the county clerk told ProPublica.

After a state Supreme Court ruling this year allowing the boxes, the Wisconsin Election Commission issued guidance to the state’s roughly 1,800 municipal officials recommending more than a dozen security practices for the boxes.

Instructions include “secured to the ground or the side of a building,” “strong enough to withstand the elements,” “placed in a well-lit area,” “fitted with a unique lock or seal,” and “emptied frequently.” .”

The committee recommended that the clerks keep a record of the time and date of collection, the number of ballots retrieved and the names of the persons who retrieved them.

He also referred officials to federal guidelines.

But even with the updated guidelines, and ballot canvassing prohibited in Wisconsin (individuals can only cast their own ballots unless they’re helping people with disabilities), concerns remain.

In August, Sheriff Dale Schmidt of Dodge County, about 60 miles northwest of Milwaukee, emailed three city officials and told them he had “serious concerns” about the dumpsters. WisPolitics news site. “I strongly encourage you to avoid using the drip box,” he wrote. The sheriff asked the clerks a number of questions about the boxes, explaining, “Even with the best possible way to avoid the possibility of fraud, crime often finds a way to upset the best laid plans.”

Two clerks — from Ashippun and Beaver Dam — replied to the sheriff that they would not be used, and the Hustisford clerk said. Wisconsin Public Radio that by the time he received Schmidt’s e-mail, the city board had already decided not to use droppers for safety reasons. In an email to ProPublica, Schmidt said, “Nobody was scared off by not using the boxes, and none of them had heartburn from not using them.”

Brittany Vulich, Wisconsin campaign manager for the nonpartisan voting rights group All Voting is Local, is troubled by how mayors, council members and other officials try to influence those decisions. He notes that local government clerks – the vast majority of whom are women – are the chief election officials of each municipality.

“This is an undermining of their authority. It undermines their office,” he said. “It undermines their autonomy to do their work and to make the decision to use drop boxes or not. And that is what is very alarming.”

Other cities also declined.

In the city of Brookfield, the Common Council on Aug. 20 voted 10-4 not to have drip boxes after reviewing a memo from City Attorney Jenna Merten, who found the recommended precautions burdensome.

“The guide states that for unmanned 24-hour ballot boxes, the city needs a video surveillance camera and storage of the video footage, as well as stickers, extra keys and security seals,” he wrote. “Removal of ballots requires at least two people and the completion of chain-of-custody logs.”

During the debate, Alderman Gary Mahkorn, an opponent of dropboxes, argued that they served a purpose during the COVID-19 pandemic, but then “it became a very political issue, and it makes me want to throw up in a way. .” He worries that “the farther we get from people trusting our elections, the more at stake for our democracy.”

Instead of drop boxes, the city will have them extended voting timeBetween 7 a.m. and 6 p.m., most weekdays during in-person absentee voting in the two weeks before the election.

In Wausau, the box Diny took to his office was returned bolted to the ground and used for early voting.

At first, Diny resisted pressure from the city clerk and city council members to send him back. Clerk Kaitlyn Bernarde reported the matter to the Marathon County District Attorney’s Office and the State Board of Elections. And Diny arranged for the clerk to claim it back.

The Wisconsin Department of Justice is investigating. No charges were filed. Diny told ProPublica that he believes he did nothing wrong, saying, “This was not done in a sneaky, undercover way.”

At Tuesday night’s City Council meeting, Diny tried to force a vote on allocating additional funds for Dropbox security. However, the council showed no interest.

During the public comment period, residents both praised and pitied the mayor. One local resident said: “Arguing over a box is stupid.”