Federal judge orders northern Wisconsin town to bring back voting machine access in future elections

A federal judge has ordered the Rusk County Town of Thornapple to resume offering electronic voting machine access after the town’s board switched to hand-counting paper ballots in two elections this year. The order says the town violated federal law aimed at making voting easier for people with disabilities.

A preliminary injunction issued Friday by Chief U.S. District Judge James Peterson for Wisconsin’s Western District, states that the town’s clerk and three-member board of supervisors violated the Help America Vote Act, or HAVA, by failing to provide at least one “voting system equipped for individuals with disabilities” at its single polling place in the April 2 and Aug. 13 elections.

According to court documents, the town’s former clerk Suzanne Pinnow cited “the controversial nature of electronic voting machines” during a June 2023 town board meeting as part of the justification for moving to hand-counted, paper ballots. Meeting minutes show she also claims that municipalities with “less than 7,000 voters” are “not required” to use the voting machines.

The injunction stems from a joint agreement between U.S. investigators and Thornapple officials in which the town agreed to provide one electronic voting machine at the town’s sole polling place, and that the “voting system is, for the full period that the polling place is required to be open under Wisconsin State law, plugged into a functioning electrical outlet, turned on, and readily visible and accessible to voters.”

The town has also agreed to not enforce its June 2023 resolution “to stop use of the electronic voting machine,” post signs alerting voters that the voting machine is available for use and allow representatives of the U.S. Department of Justice to ensure the court’s order is being followed during the Nov. 5 election.

In a statement, Assistant Attorney General Kirsten Klarke of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division said the injunction “affirms the rights of voters with disabilities to participate on the same terms as every other voter.”

“The Help America Vote Act protects that right in every town in Wisconsin, and every jurisdiction across the country, by requiring that every voter has the opportunity to use an accessible voting system,” Clarke said.

Thornapple Town Board Supervisors Tom Zelm and Jack Zupan declined to comment due to the ongoing court case.

The U.S. Department of Justice sued the Town of Thornapple and the Rusk County Town of Lawrence on Sept. 20 alleging that federal law had been broken by not offering at least one accessible, electronic voting machine in elections this year. 

The Town of Lawrence negotiated an agreement with the DOJ, which was entered into the court record the same day the government’s lawsuit was filed, that mirrors the injunction issued by Peterson Friday.

But Thornapple officials pushed back on the DOJ’s allegation it broke federal law. Attorneys representing the town, including a representative from the Donald Trump- aligned America First Policy Institute, filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit Sept. 25.

They argued that while the Help America Vote Act requires any voting system used after Jan. 1, 2006, must include “at least one direct recording electronic voting system,” the town’s hand-counted, paper ballots used in April and August didn’t constitute a “voting system” under federal law.

“The fatal problem confronting the Government’s claim is that the Town’s process for casting and counting ballots involves no mechanical, electromechanical, or electronic equipment whatsoever,” said the town’s motion.

The judge disagreed and denied the motion to dismiss on Sept. 27. 

Two complaints against Thornapple are also pending with the Wisconsin Elections Commission. They were filed last month by a town resident who is also the chair of the Rusk County Democratic Party and Disability Rights Wisconsin.

Disability Rights Wisconsin Director of Legal and Advocacy Services Kit Kerschensteiner told WPR the federal court action is “a great solution” for voters.

“The Department of Justice swings a pretty big bat here,” Kerschensteiner said. “So I’m, I’m thrilled that they got in there and and and got the injunction.”

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to clarify the town must provide at lesat one accessible electronic voting machine per polling place.