LWV Wisconsin v. Knudson (2021)

The League of Women Voters of Wisconsin (LWV of Wisconsin) filed a federal lawsuit against the Wisconsin Elections Commission, arguing its removal of 31,854 Wisconsin voters from the voter rolls violated the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

In 2019, the commission sent notices to approximately 234,000 Wisconsin voters, informing them that their addresses appeared to have changed. However, the commission failed to inform voters that failing to confirm or update their addresses would cause their voter registration to be deactivated.

Subsequently, several individuals and the Waukesha County Republican Party sued in the Waukesha County circuit court, arguing that Wisconsin law required the commission to deactivate the registrations for the approximately 234,000 non-responsive voters at issue within 30 days. The state court granted the plaintiffs’ request and subsequently held the commission in contempt when it refused to purge the voters. On appeal, the commission argued that the Wisconsin law cited by the plaintiffs as the lawsuit’s basis neither applied to it, nor required or even allowed it to conduct the mass purge they demanded. This ruling was appealed to the Wisconsin supreme court, which sided with the commission on April 9, 2021, ruling the commission was not required to deactivate the voter registrations. Instead, according to the court’s ruling, that responsibility fell to municipal and county elections officials. LWV of Wisconsin filed an amicus brief supporting the commission.

Concurrently, on December 17, 2019, the same day the circuit court issued its order to purge voters, the League filed a federal lawsuit, arguing the proposed purge violated procedural due process by removing voters from the rolls before they could confirm their addresses through voting in the upcoming 2020 election, a method which would maintain their current voter registration under the commission's rules. Put simply, if the purge occurred, voters who assumed they could maintain their voter registration by voting in 2020 would suddenly be disenfranchised simply because they chose to rely upon the commission’s current policies. The federal court dismissed the complaint pending the outcome of the state court litigation.

The commission then met in July 2021 to address the remaining 69,441 voters who were still subject to having their registrations deactivated. About half — 37,587 voters’ registrations — were already scheduled to be deactivated on July 31, 2021, since they had not voted in four years and/or responded to a postcard mailing asking them to confirm their address using one of the methods listed. The remaining 31,854 voters had voted in Wisconsin within the last four years but had not voted in the last two years since the 2019 notice was sent out. Unable to reach a consensus, the commission deactivated the voter registration of these 31,854 voters without providing these voters with additional notice.

LWV of Wisconsin filed a federal lawsuit, requesting reinstatement of these 31,854 voters. The complaint asserted that, because the voters were never told that failing to confirm or update their current address would deactivate their voter registration, the commission had violated their due process rights under the Fourteenth Amendment.

On July 13, 2022, after negotiations, LWV of Wisconsin and the defendants reached an agreement. The commission agreed to reactivate all 31,584 voter registrations at issue, excluding those voters who had already re-registered to vote after July 31, 2021. The commission also agreed not to deactivate the voter registrations of those voters flagged as having moved addresses within Wisconsin until the voters were provided notice of the potential deactivation and an opportunity to prevent it.

Subsequently, on August 17, 2022, the parties agreed to dismiss the case.

The League was represented in this matter by the Fair Elections Center, Law Forward Inc., and Stafford Rosenbaum LLP.