The state Supreme Court ruled Monday it is up to Wisconsinites to determine whether they face challenges that allow them to vote absentee without providing a copy of a photo ID.
Under state law, people can vote absentee without showing an ID if they say they are indefinitely confined because of age, disability or infirmity.
Two county clerks this spring contended voters could meet that status because of the coronavirus pandemic and a stay-at-home order issued by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers.
The state Republican Party sued directly with the state Supreme Court and the justices quickly issued an initial order that said the advice from the county clerks was faulty. The clerks rescinded their advice.
In its final decision Monday, the justices concluded it was up to each voter — not clerks or anyone else — to decide when they qualify as indefinitely confined. In addition, they found the pandemic and the stay-at-home order — which has since been struck down — did not render all voters indefinitely confined.
On those points the seven justices were unanimous. But the court’s three liberals dissented on some parts of the majority opinion.
The issue of indefinite confinement was also raised in a lawsuit President Donald Trump brought against election officials after narrowly losing the state to Democrat Joe Biden.
The state Supreme Court ruled in favor of elections officials and Biden in that case later Monday.
“The plain language of (state law) requires that each elector make an individual assessment to determine whether he or she qualifies as indefinitely confined or disabled for an indefinite period. A county clerk may not ‘declare’ that any elector is indefinitely confined due to a pandemic,” Chief Justice Patience Roggensack wrote for the majority.
The majority decision stated if voters falsely claimed they were indefinitely confined “their ballots would not count.” But the court did not give license to throw out large numbers of ballots without making determinations about the status of each individual voter, as Trump has sought in his separate lawsuit…
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