Wisconsin communities say no to ballot drop boxes

(The Center Square) – City councils in two Waukesha County municipalities, Brookfield and New Berlin, have voted to ban the use of ballot drop boxes in their cities for the upcoming general election, following a state Supreme Court ruling that reinstated municipalities’ right to utilize the equipment. 

Brookfield justified its decision last week to ban drop boxes by arguing they are unnecessary.

“Unlike 2020 and 2021, Covid is no longer the threat to public health that it once was, and the City is not subject to any stay-at-home or mask orders,” Brookfield City Attorney Jenna Merten wrote in a memo, adding that the city still provides ample services like extended hours for in-person absentee voting and a drive-up ballot drop off for disabled voters. “With such provisions in place, we do not think a drop box is necessary at this time.”

Merten also said the decision will save city election workers valuable time and resources, since staff will not have to deal with “keeping drop box chain-of-custody logs, maintaining camera surveillance, and having employees use additional security measures for the drop box.”

Executive Director of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign Nick Ramos disagreed, arguing the decisions are a disservice to voters and that drop boxes do not pose a security concern.

“They are a means to being able to help people that actually need them, like the elderly, the disabled, the single parents,” Ramos said. “People are looking to be able to use the drop boxes and they’re not using them in nefarious ways.”

Brookfield’s attorney did add in the memo that its recommendation might change, “depending on factors, such as pandemics, poll worker availability, court rulings, and other circumstances that are unforeseeable at the time of this memo.”

Use of drop boxes increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to both concerns about election security and calls for their permanent use in future elections. 

The Wisconsin Supreme Court’s 4-3 ruling in July concluded that municipalities and counties are not obligated to use ballot drop boxes, but are allowed to do so, reversing the court’s previous decision banning drop boxes following the 2020 election.

“Our decision today does not force or require that any municipal clerks use drop boxes,” Justice Ann Walsh Bradley wrote. “It merely acknowledges what has always meant: that clerks may lawfully utilize secure drop boxes in an exercise of their statutorily-conferred discretion.”

Two Wisconsin lawmakers have introduced legislation that would require 24/7 video surveillance of ballot drop boxes wherever they are used in the state.