"Our decision today does not force or require that any municipal clerks use drop boxes," the decision Friday read. "It merely acknowledges ... that clerks may lawfully utilize secure drop boxes in an exercise of their statutorily conferred discretion."
In 2022, the court limited the use of absentee drop boxes and ruled that they could be placed only in local election clerks' offices and no one other than the voter could return a ballot in person. In 2023, one new justice was elected and the new court reversed its earlier decision. "What if we just got it wrong?" Justice Jill Karofsky said of the 2022 ruling during arguments in May. "What if we made a mistake? Are we now supposed to just perpetuate that mistake into the future?"
The court heard arguments three months before the Aug. 13 primary and six months ahead of the Nov. presidential election. The move drew the ire of the court's conservatives, who accused the liberals of trying to give Democrats an advantage this fall. Misha Tseytlin, attorney for the Republican-controlled Legislature, argued that if the court overturned the ruling, it would have to revisit the issue the next time the makeup of the court changes.
But Democratic Gov. Tony Evers in April urged the court to allow drop boxes again. Democrats argue the Wisconsin SC misinterpreted the law in its 2022 ruling and wrongly concluded that absentee ballots can only be returned to a clerk in their office and not to a drop box they control that is located elsewhere. David Fox, attorney for the groups that brought the challenge, said the current law is unworkable because it's not explicitly clear where ballots can be returned.
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Justice Ann Walsh Bradley, one of the current court's four liberal justices, wrote for the majority that placing a ballot in a drop box set up and maintained by a local election clerk is no different than giving the ballot to the clerk, regardless of the box's location. Local clerks have great discretion in how they administer elections and that extends to using and locating drop boxes, she added.
Meanwhile, election officials from four counties, including the two largest counties, filed a brief in support of overturning the ruling. They argue absentee ballot drop boxes have been used for decades without incident as a secure way for voters to return their ballots.
More than 1,600 absentee ballots arrived at clerks' offices after the election day in 2022, when drop boxes were not in use, and therefore were not counted, plaintiffs' attorneys noted in their arguments. But in 2020, when drop boxes were in use and nearly three times as many people voted absentee, only 689 ballots arrived after the election, the Epoch Times reported. (Related: Trump campaign launches initiative encouraging Republicans to embrace early voting and mail-in, absentee ballot options.)
Harris, Obama can still get on the state's ballot as a replacement for Biden
Because of President Joe Biden's "poor performance" during the first presidential debate, Democrats, mega-donors and even mainstream media are pushing him to step down and allow someone "younger" to replace him in the race.
Despite Biden directly dismissing speculations that he will withdraw, both former First Lady Michelle Obama and Vice President Kamala Harris are now polling ahead of him in a hypothetical head-to-head match-up against former President Donald Trump.
According to the National Association of Secretaries of State, a presidential candidate nominated by a political party that reaches certain criteria, usually based on the number of votes cast at a recent election, is placed on the general election ballot. The Democratic and Republican Parties easily reached the criteria in each state earlier this year.
This means that if Biden or Trump are nominated by their respective parties, their names will appear on the general election ballot in each state. But if one of them were to drop out and/or a different candidate was nominated at the convention, that person instead would be placed on the general election ballot.
One way this could happen is through an open convention, a process not used since 1968 where delegates pledged to a certain candidate could cast their votes for someone else. Each state then has different rules for how the political party must certify their candidate and how many days before the election this must happen.
In California, a qualified political party must certify to the secretary of state the presidential electors no later than Oct. 1. In Texas, political parties must certify the names of the nominated president and vice-president, as well as the names of the presidential electors, 71 days before the election or the first business day after the final nominating convention.
But the timing of getting the candidate's name on the ballot in every state could be tricky as ballots need to be printed and sent out, in some cases, as early as 45 days before the election day.
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