https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/07/05/wisconsin-ballot-drop-boxes/Liberals on the Wisconsin Supreme Court cleared the way Friday for the use of absentee-ballot drop boxes, changing the rules for voting four months before the presidential election and reversing a decision made by conservatives two years ago when they controlled the court.
The 4-3 ruling came a year after liberals took a majority on the top court in a crucial swing state and six months after they undid a gerrymander that had long given Republicans huge majorities in the state legislature. The prospect of other major decisions became clear this week because the justices agreed to hear two major abortion cases, and an appeal appeared headed their way that would determine whether to strike down portions of a law that has crippled the powers of unions for government workers for more than a decade.
Ballot drop boxes were available for years in some Wisconsin communities, and their use was greatly expanded for the 2020 presidential election as voters turned to absentee voting because of the covid-19 pandemic. Top Wisconsin Republicans supported them at the time but turned against them after Joe Biden narrowly beat Donald Trump in the state.
Four months before the 2022 midterm elections, conservatives who then controlled the state Supreme Court ruled in favor of a group of voters who argued that ballot drop boxes could not be used because state law did not specifically authorize them. A year later, voters elected a liberal to replace a retiring conservative justice, ending conservatives’ 15-year control of the court.
