Dodge County clerks backtrack on using drop boxes after concerns from Republican sheriff

Some town and village clerks in Dodge County were considering using absentee ballot drop boxes in the upcoming November presidential election. They changed course when the county’s Republican sheriff urged them not to, in order to prevent the perception of voter fraud.

Wisconsin election clerks were re-authorized to use absentee ballot drop boxes in July, when the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s liberal majority reversed a ban on absentee ballot drop boxes issued by the court’s previous conservative majority in 2022. The decision didn’t require clerks to use drop boxes, but it gave them the option for the first time in the two years.

According to emails obtained by WisPolitics, Republican Dodge County Sheriff Dale Schmidt reached out to three town and village clerks who he’d heard were considering using the receptacles. He told them while it was their right to use them, “I strongly encourage you to avoid using a drop box.”

In a phone interview with WPR, Schmidt said his email contained questions for the clerks about whether the boxes would be monitored by video cameras and how they’d ensure ballots were dropped off by voters and not someone else.

Schmidt said he wasn’t trying to stop the clerks from using them.

“They have the right to do that, but I wanted to raise those concerns so they can make their own independent decision,” Schmidt said. “I am not in favor of those, but of course, as I laid out in my emails to them, that’s their choice to make.”

Former President Donald Trump criticized the use of drop boxes following the 2020 election as he made a variety ongoing, unsupported claims that the election was rigged against him.

Schmidt, who has endorsed Trump for re-election, said he shares many of the same viewpoints on election security that Trump does.

“And I think opening ourselves up to having even the perception of election fraud opens up questioning the integrity of our election process,” Schmidt said. “I don’t think we want to do that. So, I think this is a good thing. And I think that Dodge County clerks are doing it the right way to maintain that integrity.” 

Michelle Leisener, clerk for the Dodge County Town of Ashippun, told WPR using drop boxes “was a thought” for the November election but the town will not use them this fall.

Town of Hustisford Clerk Agnes Schulz told WPR that while she received an email from the Schmidt, the town board had already decided against accepting absentee ballots in a drop box used for collecting property tax payments “because of security purposes.”

“It’s unmanned,” Schultz said. “I mean, we have a camera on it, but it’s not physically manned. Just for security purposes, we are not using it.”

In a statement sent to WPR, Democratic Party of Wisconsin spokesman Joe Oslund called it “unfortunate that the Dodge County Sheriff is trafficking in Donald Trump’s conspiracy theories to cast doubts on our elections.” 

“Ballot drop boxes are a convenient and secure way for folks in communities across the state to cast their vote, a reality that even (Republican Assembly Speaker) Robin Vos acknowledged back in 2020 before Trump lost,” said Oslund.