League of Women Voters of Wisconsin v. Wisconsin Elections Commission

Wisconsin law requires absentee ballots to be signed by the voters and a witness, who must fill in their address. Wisconsin statute section 6.87(6d) states, “If a[n absentee ballot] certificate is missing the address of a witness, the ballot may not be counted.” The term “missing address” is not explicitly defined in the statute.  

A state court in a separate case, White v. Wisconsin Elections Commission, in which LWV Wisconsin intervened, banned officials from correcting or filling in incorrect or missing address information. Prior to this ruling, long-standing Wisconsin Elections Commission (“WEC”) guidance allowed local elections officials to fill in or correct missing or incorrect witness address information if they had sufficient evidence or knowledge of the correct address. Under such circumstances, elections officials were not required to contact voters and have them correct their witnesses’ addresses. Due to the court’s decision in White, the WEC withdrew its previous guidance, while the term ‘missing address’ for absentee ballots remained undefined.  

In response to White, LWV Wisconsin filed a lawsuit in the Dane County circuit court, seeking the following relief.  

1. A declaratory judgment defining the term “missing address” to be a complete absence of any witness address information on an absentee ballot return envelope, i.e., left blank.
2. A court order forbidding election officials from rejecting absentee ballots unless they were completely devoid of witness address information.
3. A declaratory judgment stating section 6.87(6d) violates the Materiality Provision of the Civil Rights Act as applied to voters casting absentee ballots who filled out their street number, street name, and municipality but omitted information outside of these three categories.
4. A declaratory judgment ruling the lack of a mandatory notice and cure process to correct witness address issues that could lead to rejection of absentee ballots violated procedural due process under the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

On January 2, 2024, the court granted LWV Wisconsin's motion for summary judgment on its Materiality Provision claim, ruling that election officials could not reject absentee ballots with:

1. Witness certifications containing the witness’s street name, street number, and municipality, but not other address information such as state name or ZIP code.
2. Witness certifications by a member of the voter’s household who lists a street number and street name, but omits other information, such as a municipality.
3. Witness certifications using terms like “same” or “ditto” or other means to convey that their address is the same as the voter.
4. Witness certifications with a street number, street name, and ZIP code, but no municipality.

LWV Wisconsin is represented by Law Forward, Inc. and Fair Elections Center.

Read LWV Wisconsin's press release here.

Read LWV Wisconsin's press release on the summary judgment ruling here.