{"id":8060,"date":"2024-01-04T05:03:18","date_gmt":"2024-01-04T06:03:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/?p=8060"},"modified":"2024-01-04T06:56:52","modified_gmt":"2024-01-04T06:56:52","slug":"judge-wisconsin-absentee-ballots-without-complete-addresses-can-be-counted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/?p=8060","title":{"rendered":"Judge: Wisconsin Absentee Ballots Without Complete Addresses Can Be Counted"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post originally appeared at https:\/\/wisconsindailystar.com\/news\/judge-wisconsin-absentee-ballots-without-complete-addresses-can-be-counted\/tcsquare\/2024\/01\/04\/<\/a><\/p>\n

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by Benjamin Yount<\/h5>\n

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A judge in Dane County says absentee ballots in Wisconsin don\u2019t need a full address to be counted this year.<\/p>\n

Judge Ryan Nilsestuen ruled local election managers need not reject absentee ballots if the absentee witness\u2019 address is incomplete.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe definition [of an address] preferred by the WEC and the Legislature would establish a simple, bright line rule, but it does not fit within the broader statutory context,\u201d Nilsestuen wrote in his decision. \u201cIn fact, it directly conflicts with several other similar terms. Therefore, this definition is improper and, as used by the WEC, invalid.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ruling comes after a judge in Waukesha County ruled last year local election clerks could not count ballots with missing address information. The Waukesha County ruling also forbade clerks from \u201ccuring\u201d those ballots by adding the missing information.<\/p>\n

Nilsestuen said the state law that deals with absentee ballots and witness addresses isn\u2019t clear.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe problem at hand could be resolved if the Legislature passed a bill to define \u2018address.\u2019 Instead, it is up to the judiciary to make sense of an undefined word used in a variety of different contexts in a convoluted and poorly written statute,\u201d the judge added.<\/p>\n

Part of the case focused on the different definitions that local election managers use to determine a \u201cfull address.\u201d<\/p>\n

For example, in Madison, the clerk requires a street number, street name and either the municipality or ZIP code. But in Green Bay, the clerk requires a full address to include a street number, street name, municipality and either the state name or ZIP code.<\/p>\n

Rep. Janel Brandtjen, R-Menomonee Falls, said the ruling opens up another election loophole that could be exploited in Wisconsin.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, you can request a ballot, without an ID and sign it without an address. Nothing to see here?!\u201d Brandtjen said on social media. \u201cEven without an ID a ballot can be requested for the area where the voter \u201csays\u201d they reside. If this stands, then only a signature would be required. No trace of some voters, like fake military voters, indefinite confined, overseas voters.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wisconsin allows military members to submit an absentee ballot without a photo ID, and the state\u2019s indefinitely confined voter law allows people to vote absentee without a witness.<\/p>\n

Nilsestuen\u2019s decision could be appealed, but it would likely then end up before Wisconsin\u2019s liberal majority Supreme Court.<\/p>\n

Republican lawmakers could try and write a new law that clarifies what constitutes an address for voting purposes.<\/p>\n

\u2013 \u2013\u00a0 \u2013<\/p>\n

Benjamin Yount is a contributor to The Center Square.\u00a0<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

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The post Judge: Wisconsin Absentee Ballots Without Complete Addresses Can Be Counted<\/a> appeared first on The Wisconsin Daily Star<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This post originally appeared at https:\/\/wisconsindailystar.com\/news\/judge-wisconsin-absentee-ballots-without-complete-addresses-can-be-counted\/tcsquare\/2024\/01\/04\/ by Benjamin Yount \u00a0 A judge in Dane County…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":3495,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8060","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wi-daily-star"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8060","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8060"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8060\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8061,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8060\/revisions\/8061"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8060"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8060"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wifamily.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8060"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}