Wisconsin judge orders election clerks to email absentee ballots to disabled voters

MADISON – Wisconsin election officials will be required to email absentee ballots to voters who cannot vote independently under a new ruling from a Dane County judge.

Dane County Circuit Court Judge Everett Mitchell on Tuesday ordered clerks to allow voters with disabilities that include blindness or a physical disability that impairs manual dexterity to vote electronically, including with a screen reader. The temporary order covers the Nov. 5 election.

The voters still would be required to return the ballots by mail or in person rather than by email.

The ruling comes less than six months before Wisconsin is set to play a key role in another hard-fought presidential contest during which the battleground state could again be the tipping point, pushing partisan groups to battle over voting rules.

The lawsuit for now changes the landscape of voting for residents with disabilities, requiring state election officials to work quickly to implement Mitchell’s ruling should it not be appealed to higher courts.

Mitchell issued his ruling following a Monday hearing during which plaintiffs in a lawsuit brought by groups representing voters with disabilities argued disabled voters' rights to a secret ballot had been disenfranchised because each were unable to receive and mark ballots independently.

A state Department of Justice attorney representing the Wisconsin Elections Commission argued the move could create security risks and give election officials no time to implement.

Previously, state law only allowed ballots to be transmitted electronically to voters in the military or overseas electors.

Four Wisconsin voters with disabilities who cannot read or mark ballots independently in April sued the state elections commission for the right to vote privately via electronic absentee ballots.

They filed a lawsuit in the Dane County Circuit Court in conjunction with Disability Rights Wisconsin and the liberal-leaning League of Women Voters. 

“It is a good step for these voters to be able to vote privately and independently, but it's definitely not the end goal," Disability Rights Wisconsin Public Policy Manager Lisa Hassenstab told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “The end goal is for the entire process of receiving marking and returning a ballot to be truly accessible for voters with print disabilities.”

Rachel Hale can be reached at rhale@gannett.com.