Wisconsin Supreme Court refuses to offer ballot clarity
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A divided Wisconsin Supreme Court on Thursday refused to go along with a request from two counties to allow them to fill in a ballot misprint so that as many as 13,500 ballots can be processed more quickly on Election Day.
The four conservatives on the court rejected the request from Outagamie and Calumet counties for an order that would allow them to fill in a misprinted “timing mark” so that tabulating machines can read the ballots, rather than have to duplicate them all on readable ballots. The court's three liberals dissented, saying the decision “leaves local election officials in the lurch.”
Chief Justice Patience Roggensack, writing for the majority, said the counties were asking the court for an advisory opinion “explaining what election laws they are free to disregard. We will not do that.”
Roggensack stressed that despite the court's refusal to take the case, all of the ballots must be counted.
“Election officials may have to make difficult decisions regarding how to proceed as they comply with what the law requires,” she wrote. “Obtaining more election workers appears to be necessary.”
Justice Ann Walsh Bradley, writing for the minority, said that without guidance from the court, the counties “are left to do their best under difficult circumstances.”
The counties were seeking guidance on how to deal with ballots that had a small misprint on one black box on the border of the ballot known as a “timing mark.” The misprint would prevent the tabulating machines from reading those ballots.
The counties and the Wisconsin Elections Commission agreed that the best solution would be to have a poll worker use a pen or marker to fill in the black box so that the ballots could be read by the machines. The counties...