A state court in Wisconsin has ruled that the use of vans and other means of transportation to collect ballots is a violation of state law. The court also noted that the strategy may have given Democrats an upper hand in the 2022 elections.

The original complaint was brought to the Racine Circuit Court by the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty (WILL), alleging the City of Racine violated the law by utilizing the vans for ballot collection. That claim was disputed by the Wisconsin Elections Commission, which sided with the city.

The complaint had also argued that the selected locations of the vans favored voters affiliated with the Democratic party–that the city vans tended to be placed in Democratic areas but not in areas with more Republican voters.

The Racine Circuit Court ruled in WILL’s favor, stating that election facilities must only consist of buildings–mobile depositories may not be used to register voters or collect ballots en masse. Additionally, the court ruled that statutory clauses governing ballot depository locations had been violated, and that the plaintiff’s claim of partisan bias in van locations had not been countered.

The court’s decision focused on the technicalities of Wisconsin mail-in voting law, supplemented by fair play concerns about locational bias. Concerns about the relationship between ballot harvesting and vote fraud were expressed indirectly, with reference to relevant legislative context. For instance, the decision cited a legislative directive that “the privilege of voting by absentee ballot must be carefully regulated to prevent potential for fraud and abuse” (page 17).

Proponents of ballot harvesting and of lax mail-in voting laws may frown upon the decision as “voter suppression”. They may say that with fewer convenience measures like mobile mail-in ballot collection in and around people’s communities, fewer people will vote.

Opponents of ballot harvesting, on the contrary, are lauding the decision as a crucial step in securing elections. The Honest Election Project, an organization that promotes secure and fair elections, congratulated WILL on its court victory. Executive Director Jason Snead stated: “this is only the latest attempt to weaponize election administration and exploit legal loopholes for partisan gain and shows once again why states should ban private election funding in order to preserve public trust in elections.”

Election integrity watchdogs argue that ballot harvesting is conducive to fraud, as election officials cannot prove chain of custody of harvested ballots, or whether a ballot has been compromised. They may also add that it opens the door to illegal coercion or electioneering at public voter collecting stations–particularly with the method at issue in this court case.

Of note, the mobile van initiative had been heavily funded by organizations that claim to be engaged in nonpartisan efforts to facilitate voting through financial assistance to county and municipal governments. This practice, referred to colloquially as “Zuckerbucks”, has proven quite controversial.

Posted by Andrew