2 Waukesha County communities vote to ban ballot drop boxes

Two Waukesha County municipalities have decided to prevent residents from using absentee ballot drop boxes in the upcoming presidential election. The decision comes after the Wisconsin Supreme Court last month reversed a near-total ban of the use of absentee ballot drop boxes in the state.

The Brookfield Common Council last week voted against allowing residents to use the city’s utility payment drop box outside of City Hall for absentee ballots. Last month, New Berlin took a similar step.

Brookfield Alder Mike Hallquist, who voted against the ban, said the decision from the council was a disappointment.

“Essentially what we did as a community is we rolled back a voting method that makes voting more accessible in our community, that we previously had without issue,” Hallquist said. 

Absentee voting and the use of ballot drop boxes became a more popular option for voters during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the spring of 2021, the Wisconsin Elections Commission found there were 570 drop boxes being used in 66 of Wisconsin’s 72 counties.

But the use of the boxes has also become a highly politicized issue in recent years. The Wisconsin Supreme Court’s conservative majority made them illegal in 2022. The election of Justice Janet Protasiewicz in 2023 gave the court a liberal majority. In July, the court’s four liberal justices voted to reversed the earlier decision.

Justice Ann Walsh Bradley wrote in the majority opinion that the ruling “does not force or require that any municipal clerks use drop boxes.” 

After that decision, the Wisconsin Elections Commission issued suggested guidance for municipal clerks for their ballot box use, which said the boxes should be affixed to the ground and should be in a well-lit area.

“Ideally, unstaffed 24-hour drop boxes should be located in areas with good lighting and be monitored by video surveillance cameras,” the guidance said. “When this is not feasible, positioning the box close to a nearby camera is a good option.” 

The guidance adds that “chain of custody” forms should be completed every time ballots are collected. 

In a memo, Brookfield city attorney Jenna Merten said the city has used the utility payment drop box as a ballot drop box in the past. But the memo adds that City Clerk Michelle Luedtke and Merten said the city doesn’t need to use the drop box this fall election.

“We have concluded that while the city could utilize a drop box, we do not need to do so,” the memo said.

The memo adds that the COVID-19 pandemic “is no longer the threat to public health that it once was,” and that Brookfield has expanded in-person absentee voting options for residents before the election.

“This also saves city staff valuable time from keeping drop box chain-of-custody logs, maintaining camera surveillance, and having employees use additional security measures for the drop box,” the memo says. 

Brookfield Mayor Steve Ponto said he agrees with the memo and supports the Common Council’s decision. He added that voters across the state can return their absentee ballots by mail as well.

“I’m confident that anyone who wants to and who is entitled to vote in Brookfield will have plenty of opportunity to get their ballot in,” Ponto said. 

New Berlin Mayor Dave Ament said its city council voted unanimously against using its drop box.

“I think the council made the right decision,” Ament said. “I don’t think we need them (ballot boxes).”

Ament said he believes there are enough options for people who might have difficulty going to the polls on Election Day to cast their vote early. He also said the city’s ballot box is smaller and would need to be emptied multiple times a day by staff. 

Some Brookfield residents spoke in opposition to the Council’s decision before the vote. That included Julie Burish, who has an adult daughter with a disability who has difficulty voting in person.

“She deserves the human dignity of having the ability to use the ballot box and to be able to cast a vote,” Burish said. 

Brookfield Alder Sara Monty has worked elections in the past. She voted against the ban as she said the city should be making it easier for more people to vote.

“It is so disheartening and so against everything we should be standing for,” Monty said. 

Nick Ramos, the executive director of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, said the decisions from the two communities were concerning to him.

“They (drop boxes) are secure,” Ramos said. “They are a means to being able to help people that actually need them, like the elderly, the disabled, the single parents. … People are looking to be able to use the drop boxes and they’re not using them in nefarious ways.”