A Wisconsin judge is set to allow voters with disabilities to receive their absentee ballots electronically at home in the November election.
Dane County Circuit Judge Everett Mitchell issued a preliminary injunction on Tuesday allowing voters with disabilities to receive absentee ballots by email for the general election, The Center Square reported. Voters who must vote by mail or in person may be able to get assistance, according to Votebeat.
Initially, the motion for a preliminary injunction had sought to allow voters with disabilities to receive and cast absentee ballots electronically in both the August primary and November general elections, but was amended to only apply to the November election after Wisconsin Elections Commission Administrator Megan Wolf said implementing the change for both elections would be “virtually impossible.”
“Under ideal conditions, even the most minor changes would typically require two to three months of work, while larger changes would typically take eight to 12 months to complete,” Wolf said in a court filing ahead of the ruling.
Absentee ballots are first sent out by clerks 47 days before the election, with the election day set for mid-September.
The lawsuit was filed in April by the Wisconsin Disability Rights Association, the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin, and four voters with disabilities against the Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC), challenging a state law that “denies voters with disabilities the right to receive, complete, and return their absentee ballot electronically.”
The preliminary injunction only allows voters to receive their ballots electronically, but the lawsuit seeks to allow voters to send their ballots electronically as well.
Don Natzke, who is blind and one of the plaintiffs, said of the ruling:[I]”Today is a very exciting and important day, and we look forward to our next steps. We’re really excited about the possibility of having absentee voting available by November.”