*DISCLAIMER* This article is being republished due to the upcoming midterm elections, and how vital it is to support our communities and not allow drop boxes to be used and or monitor drop boxes. This article may contain the personal views and opinions of the author.
While many focus on the Supreme Court of the United States and its operations, many of the work that people will actually see reflected in their day to day lives is done at the state and local levels.
In fact, a rather powerful and far-reaching ruling comes to us out of the state of Wisconsin.
The ruling comes just in time for the primary elections that will be held in the state in April. Always keep an eye on those local governments, dear reader.
It has has just reported:
In a 4-3 vote, the state Supreme Court will allow a lower court decision to go into effect that will ban the use of ballot drop boxes at least until April.
While a final decision is yet to come, the ruling suggests the use of ballot drop boxes could come to an end in Wisconsin.
Drop boxes became popular during the 2020 elections as Democrats claimed they were necessary during the “pandemic.”
“Two suburban Milwaukee men last year sued to block the use of ballot drop boxes with the help of the conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty.”
“A Waukesha County judge in January agreed with them and ruled they could not be used,” the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.
“An appeals court quickly stepped in and ruled the drop boxes could be used in the February primary because it was happening so soon. The state Supreme Court took over the case soon afterward and kept in place the ruling that allowed the use of drop boxes for February,” the report continued.
“The state Elections Commission and others asked the high court to extend that policy until at least April. The justices declined to do that on Friday, saying they would let the lower court ruling go into effect that bars the use of drop boxes for that election and ones after it. The justices’ ruling is not the last word in the case.”
“It is expected to decide the case in the coming weeks or months, and that ruling will determine the ultimate fate of drop boxes,” the report added.
There happens to be an additional issue that is relevant in the case. That is, if a voter can, or rather should, have someone else deliver absentee one’s ballots for them.
That practice will be allowed for Tuesday’s primary, but not the April election.
In fact, it was just last month that a judge in Wisconsin made the decision to formally end the use of absentee ballot drop boxes.
Michael Bohren, a circuit court judge from Waukesha County, said that the law within the state will require that absentee ballots will have to be sent back to the particular person. However, it will not be by drop boxes.
“It’s all good and nice, but there’s no authority to do it,” he said of the drop boxes.
This is indeed a powerful ruling and one that might give people to wonder the extent of attention they give to their local politics. All the debate, vitriol and energy is reflected in and on the national platform. While this isn’t all together wrong-headed, the net effect is that the political landscape that can be so crucial to how the ordinary citizen operates in the world is completely ignored, which readers should be encouraged to not do.
