Wisconsin Judge Denies Request to Halt Order Allowing Ballots Be Emailed to Disabled Voters

Election ballots are shown as workers count mail-in and in-person absentee ballots at the Wisconsin Center in Milwaukee, Wis., on Nov. 8, 2022. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

A Wisconsin judge has refused to put on hold his ruling that will allow voters with “print disabilities” to receive electronic ballots in emails this November.

The Wisconsin Legislature asked the judge to not enforce his ruling while an appeal is pending. But Dane County Circuit Judge Everett Mitchell on Aug. 1 rejected the request.

At the center of the legal dispute is a state law barring voters from voting electronically. Voting right groups sued Wisconsin’s election authority in April, arguing that the law denies the constitutional right to a secret ballot for people with print disabilities, including blind and low-vision voters who can’t read or mark a paper ballot without the help of a third-party assistant.

“Because these voters can vote absentee only by using a paper ballot, they must select an assistant to read and mark their ballot for them,” the lawsuit alleged. “Doing so forces voters with disabilities to surrender their independence and privacy, share their vote, and trust that their ballot was marked accurately—a surrender of the constitutional right to a secret ballot not demanded of voters without disabilities.”

On June 25, Judge Mitchell issued a temporary injunction in favor of the voters. The ruling allows voters who self-certify to having a print disability to ask their local election clerks to send them an electronic ballot via email, beginning with the November 2024 election.

The voters can then mark their ballots electronically at home, on their own, with the help of devices such as a screen reader. They still have to print their marked ballot and return it to their municipal clerk in person or by mail, as required by state law.

“This relief allows voters with print disabilities the option to complete their ballot independently without disclosing the content of their vote to a third party,” explained Disability Rights Wisconsin, an advocacy group leading the lawsuit. “Voters with print disabilities may still vote in-person or absentee with an assistant if they choose.”

Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul opposes allowing disabled voters to request electronic absentee ballots, at least for this election cycle.

His lawyers argued, among other things, that there’s simply not enough time before November to train local clerks across the state in how to handle electronic ballot requests—including how to verify if a voter has a print disability—and create electronic ballots that can interact with the disabled voters’ assistive devices.

It will now be up to the state appeals court to decide whether to pause Judge Mitchell’s ruling.

Prior to 2011, Wisconsin allowed absentee ballots to be distributed by email, but a law passed that year limited that option to voters in the military or living overseas.