MADISON, WI (WSAU) – A Dane County court ruled on Wednesday that Wisconsin absentee ballots this year won’t require a complete address to be tallied.
According to Wisconsin Right Now, Judge Ryan Nilsestuen ruled that local election officials are not required to reject absentee ballots if the address of the absentee voter is incomplete.
“The definition [of an address] preferred by the WEC and the Legislature would establish a simple, bright-line rule, but it does not fit within the broader statutory context,” Nilsestuen wrote in his decision. “In fact, it directly conflicts with several other similar terms. Therefore, this definition is improper and, as used by the WEC, invalid.”
Nilsestuen continued by saying the state law that deals with absentee ballots and the addresses used isn’t clear, saying, “The problem at hand could be resolved if the Legislature passed a bill to define ‘address.’ Instead, it is up to the judiciary to make sense of an undefined word used in a variety of different contexts in a convoluted and poorly written statute.”
This decision goes against one made by a Waukesha County judge in 2017 that prohibited local election clerks from counting ballots that lacked complete addresses.
The decision, according to Rep. Janel Brandtjen, a Republican from Menomonee Falls, creates yet another electoral loophole that could be used in Wisconsin saying, “So, you can request a ballot, without an ID and sign it without an address. Nothing to see here?!” Brandtjen said on social media. “Even without an ID a ballot can be requested for the area where the voter “says” they reside. If this stands, then only a signature would be required. No trace of some voters, like fake military voters, indefinitely confined, overseas voters.”
Wisconsin Right Now reported that it’s expected that Nilsestuen’s ruling will be challenged, and if so, the case would go before the Supreme Court of Wisconsin.
