Wisconsin Court of Appeals Pauses Order Expanding Voter Accessibility for November General Election
The Wisconsin Court of Appeals on Monday paused a ruling that would have allowed voters with print disabilities to request and receive accessible absentee ballots via email during the November 2024 general election.
At the request of Wisconsin’s GOP-controlled Legislature, the appeals court froze a temporary injunction issued in late June by Dane County Judge Everett Mitchell requiring Wisconsin election officials to facilitate the availability of electronically delivered absentee ballots that could be completed using assistive technology.
“To sow the confusion that could well be caused by jamming [new] objectives on [the Wisconsin Elections Commission], local clerks, and voters in the weeks leading up to the November national elections runs a substantial risk of doing more harm than good, even for print-disabled voters,” Monday’s order reads.
Mitchell’s now-paused injunction came as part of a lawsuit filed in April by Disability Rights Wisconsin, the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin and four individual voters challenging the inaccessibility of Wisconsin’s absentee voting system under the state and federal constitutions as well as federal disability rights statutes.
The suit emphasized that because the state already allows military and overseas voters to receive absentee ballots via email, implementing this option for those with print disabilities — such as blindness or manual dexterity impairments — would not be overly burdensome to election officials.
The legal challenge also maintained that the state’s lack of access to at-home electronic absentee ballots violates voters with disabilities’ right to a secret ballot, since these individuals are often forced to seek assistance with filling out and submitting their ballots in a manner that infringes on their independence and privacy.
But in Monday’s ruling halting Mitchell’s injunction, the court of appeals held that “the record appears to provide no reason to believe any of the respondents will be unable to vote in the November election if we stay the injunction order.”
“The fact that they may only be able to do so with the assistance of another person is the same circumstance under which they have regularly and successfully voted, even if that is in a less private and independent manner than they desire,” the order continued.
While Mitchell’s injunction allowed voters with print disabilities to request and mark their absentee ballots electronically, it nonetheless required these voters to return their ballots via mail or in person. In turn, the court of appeals concluded that the injunction “does not appear to meaningfully enhance…independence and privacy in voting” since voters may still require assistance with returning their completed absentee ballots.
Disability rights advocates, however, lauded Mitchell’s ruling as an important step in the right direction for increasing privacy and independence for voters with disabilities in the process of completing their absentee ballots.
In an emailed statement to Democracy Docket, Debra Cronmiller, executive director of the League of Women Voters Wisconsin, said “the League is disappointed in [the court of appeals’] decision. We believe that voters with disabilities have the right to vote privately and independently. We will keep fighting to make sure voting rights are delivered to all Wisconsin voters.”
Both the Wisconsin Legislature and the Wisconsin Elections commission had appealed Mitchell’s June order, but only the Legislature requested a stay pending appeal.
Although Monday’s ruling likely precludes relief for the 2024 election, litigation that could determine the availability of electronic absentee voting for Wisconsinites with print disabilities in future election cycles will continue to play out.
Learn more about the case here.
Original post, June 25
Wisconsin voters with disabilities will be able to request and receive accessible absentee ballots via email during the November 2024 election due to a temporary injunction issued today by Dane County Judge Everett Mitchell.
As a result of the ruling, which Mitchell handed down following a hearing yesterday, Wisconsin election officials must facilitate the availability of electronically delivered, accessible absentee ballots requested by voters with print disabilities.
Print disabilities include blindness, visual impairment, intellectual disabilities and other impairments to manual dexterity that prevent certain voters from reading, marking or handling a paper ballot on their own.
Mitchell’s order comes as part of a lawsuit filed in April by Disability Rights Wisconsin, the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin and four individual voters who challenge the inaccessibility of Wisconsin’s absentee voting system under the state and federal constitutions as well as federal disability rights statutes.
The ruling clarified that for an electronically delivered absentee ballot to be “accessible,” it “must be capable of being read and interacted with, including marked, by a voter with a print disability using digital assistive technology such as a screen reader.” Mitchell also stipulated that while voters with print disabilities will be able to receive and mark their absentee ballots electronically using an at-home accessibility device, they must return them either by mail or in person.
Prior to today’s injunction, Wisconsin failed to provide voters with print disabilities the option to receive and mark their absentee ballots electronically, instead only offering electronic absentee voting to military and overseas voters.
According to the lawsuit, the state’s lack of access to at-home electronic absentee voting is harmful to voters with print disabilities and elderly voters, who are often forced to seek assistance with filling out and submitting their ballots in a manner that violates their independence and privacy while voting.
Debra Cronmiller, executive director of the League of Women Voters Wisconsin, previously explained to Democracy Docket that implementing an electronic voting option for those with print disabilities would not be overly onerous for state election officials.
“It’s not as though WEC or clerks would have to create or purchase new equipment or new mechanisms for getting ballots into the hands of people who need them,” Cronmiller said. “It is literally about the statutes prohibiting that electronic ballot from being issued to anyone who’s not overseas or military.”
Mitchell’s temporary injunction applies to Wisconsin’s November general election, but not the state’s Aug. 13 primary elections. Following today’s ruling, litigation will continue to determine whether state election officials must permanently provide voters with print disabilities the option to receive, mark and return their absentee ballots electronically.