Overview
- The lawsuit filed Wednesday in Dane County Circuit Court by Law Forward seeks to restore 23 Madison ballots and argues voters were unconstitutionally disenfranchised by election staff delays.
- Following a 5-1 vote last week, the Wisconsin Elections Commission ordered Madison and Dane County to remove the ballots, citing a 1985 change that makes the 8 p.m. Election Day delivery cutoff mandatory.
- The Dane County Board of Canvassers voted Tuesday to appeal and filed its own case Wednesday evening, asking for guidance before future elections as the May 15 statewide certification deadline approaches.
- Madison re-canvassed Tuesday without the 23 ballots and used a random drawdown to subtract 20 votes because poll workers did not clearly mark most late-delivered envelopes for identification.
- In a separate dispute Tuesday, Mequon added five absentee votes after the state said its strict witness-address test was illegal, highlighting uneven local rules that the commission is trying to standardize.