(The Center Square) – Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers says that he believes that absentee voters need to have their ballots counted if they follow all the rules, calling it a “basic tenet” in a brief in a class-action lawsuit against Madison and former Clerk Maribeth Witzel-Behl.
Attorneys for the defendants had argued that they are not financially liable for not counting 193 absentee ballots from the Nov. 5, 2024, election because the Wisconsin Constitution states that voting is a constitutional right but that absentee ballots are a privilege exercised outside the traditional safeguards of a polling place.
“Voting is one of the most basic but fundamental rights we have in a democracy – it’s the right that affects all the others,” Evers wrote in an amicus brief. “Wisconsinites who choose to vote absentee are not second-class citizens, and I cannot and will not accept the suggestion that they have any fewer rights or that their vote counts any less than a Wisconsinite who chooses to cast their ballot in-person on Election Day,”
Law Forward filed a class action lawsuit in March on behalf of absentee voters whose ballots were found sealed in courier bags.
The Madison clerk and city also argue that no part of the law allows for monetary damages and that the only recourse voters have is to file a complaint with the Wisconsin Elections Commission.
“All Wisconsin voters – whether voting absentee or in-person on Election Day – have a constitutional right to vote,” Evers wrote in the brief. “If a voter follows all of the rules when casting a ballot, their vote must count and their constitutional right to vote must be respected.
“In Wisconsin, we are proud of our democracy. We have one of the highest voter turnout rates in the nation. We have an election system that is centered on our communities, with more than 1,800 local, municipal clerks running free, fair, and secure elections. … If there was any doubt that absentee voters are exercising a constitutional right to vote, Wisconsin’s ‘long history’ respecting the will of the voter should extinguish any questions.”
