Published on September 10, 2024, 12:45 am

In a concerning development from Wisconsin, the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty (WILL), a conservative legal group, this Monday highlighted a troubling loophole in the state’s voting legislation. This loophole potentially permits thousands of voters to cast absentee ballots without demonstrating their identification.

The group’s new research report uncovers that there are around 144,347 individuals in Wisconsin recognized as “indefinitely confined.” Their indefinitely confined status implies these individuals can mail in an absentee ballot without verifying their identity. Notably, such cases soared during the contentious 2020 election period, enabling tens of thousands to submit their absentee votes.

Wisconsin has robust voter ID protocols. However, there exists one major loophole that is vulnerable to misuse; voters can assert they are “Indefinitely Confined.” This particular status permits them to periodically receive an absentee vote without ever having to provide an ID,” stated Will Flanders, the researcher at WILL who led the study.

Flanders noted that although the number of indefinitely confined voters had decreased since 2020’s record levels, it was yet 116% more significant than it was four years prior in 2016. It implies that several thousand voters who must legally be removed from the list continue to remain on it under Wisconsin’s state law.

The research report further specifies that state law obligates clerks to remove voters if they vote in person or abstain from any election activity. Such voters must sign and return a form to maintain their voting status.

Accordingly, certain categories of people who ought to have obtained a potential removal notice include nearly 24,800 individuals who didn’t participate in the April polls; about 2,788 citizens not involved in any voting process since 2020; and approximately 2,595 individuals who voted directly at polling stations this April.

Districts with overwhelming numbers of indefinitely confined electors are largely Democratic strongholds like Milwaukee and Madison but also encompass more politically-balanced locations such as Green Bay and Kenosha. The ‘indefinitely confined’ voting status was engineered to assist elderly voters and those with disabilities who are unable to commute to voting venues.

This arrangement allows voters to evaluate for themselves whether they qualify for this status, thereby obtaining an absentee ballot indefinitely if they persist in participating in every election. Crucially, voters can access ballots this way without the need for a photo ID – only during vote casting is a photo ID necessitated in Wisconsin, not at the registration stage.

Wisconsin’s Supreme Court had later refuted initial guidelines from Madison and Milwaukee election officials declaring virtually all electors could claim indefinitely confined voter status owing to the COVID pandemic.

For safeguarding the sanctity of our voting process, WILL advocates stricter guidelines governing ‘indefinitely confined’ status eligibility. It has circulated letters to 15 municipalities across Wisconsin enquiring about their compliance with state laws about voter roll maintenance.

“Confidence in our elections persists at dangerously low levels across Wisconsin and elsewhere,” commented Flanders, “Voter ID is a prominent and well-executed technique for maintaining the integrity of our elections while preventing fraud.”

Wisconsin anticipates being a pivotal battleground state (expectedly) determining the 2024 election outcome, with poll data predicting tight competition between Ex-President Donald Trump and Vice-President Kamala Harris. It underscores why eradicating loopholes like these should be prioritized by state-level officials responsible for facilitating free and fair polls.