Court Drops MAJOR 2024 Decision - Trump-Biden Race Hangs In Balance

The Wisconsin Supreme Court has issued a significant ruling that could influence the upcoming presidential election.

In a narrow 4-3 decision on Friday, the court permitted the use of ballot drop boxes in the 2024 election, a move that some may consider "legal gymnastics." This decision comes after the court, which leaned conservative following the 2020 election, previously struck down the use of ballot drop boxes.

The court's current liberal tilt, influenced by substantial funding from Democrat operatives for a liberal justice's election, has led to a reversal of that decision.

Justice Ann Walsh Bradley acknowledged that while the state Constitution doesn't explicitly allow drop boxes, it does permit voters to leave their ballots with the County Clerk. Thus, the County Clerk may opt to use drop boxes, according to Just The News.

“By mandating that an absentee ballot be returned not to the ‘municipal clerk’s office,’ but ‘to the municipal clerk,’ the Legislature disclaimed the idea that the ballot must be delivered to a specific location and instead embraced delivery of an absentee ballot to a person,” Justice Bradley wrote. “Given this, the question then becomes whether delivery to a drop box constitutes delivery ‘to the municipal clerk.’”

“A drop box is set up, maintained, secured, and emptied by the municipal clerk. This is the case even if the drop box is in a location other than the municipal clerk’s office. As analyzed, the statute does not specify a location to which a ballot must be returned and requires only that the ballot be delivered to a location the municipal clerk, within his or her discretion, designates,” she added.

Justice Rebecca Bradley dissented from the majority's decision.

“The majority again forsakes the rule of law in an attempt to advance its political agenda,” she stated. “The majority began this term by tossing the legislative maps adopted by this court … for the sole purpose of facilitating ‘the redistribution of political power in the Wisconsin Legislature.’ The majority ends the term by loosening the Legislature’s regulations governing the privilege of absentee voting in the hopes of tipping the scales in future elections.”

“To reach this conclusion, the majority misrepresents the court’s decision in Teigen, replaces the only reasonable interpretation of the law with a highly implausible one, and tramples the doctrine of stare decisis,” she continued.

However, the majority opinion clarifies that clerks are not mandated to use drop boxes, only that they have the option.

“Our decision today does not force or require that any municipal clerks use drop boxes,” the majority opinion states. “It merely acknowledges what has always meant: that clerks may lawfully utilize secure drop boxes in an exercise of their statutorily-conferred discretion.”

Wisconsin, a crucial battleground state, was won by Donald Trump in 2016 and Joe Biden in 2020.

During the 2023 election for a new Justice, Democratic candidate Janet Protasiewicz significantly outraised her conservative opponent Daniel Kelly, aided by over $8.8 million from the Wisconsin Democratic Party.

According to WisPolitics: “Protasiewicz reported nearly $12.4 million raised between Feb. 7 and March 20, $10.6 million spent and almost $2.1 million cash on hand. She’s now detailed more than $14.5 million in contributions since the start of 2022. Kelly, the former justice, reported $2.2 million raised over the pre-election period, $2 million spent, and $395,098 in the bank. Since launching his campaign, he’s raised more than $2.7 million.”

“For both candidates, their overall fundraising totals include the late contributions they’ve detailed to the state since the pre-election reporting period closed last week. During the most recent period, the state Dem Party gave just over $8 million to Protasiewicz in monetary donations along with more than $800,000 in in-kind donations for expenses such as polls, online ads, and mail. Protasiewicz then plowed a good chunk of that money into TV, reporting $8.3 million in expenditures on TV ads during the six-week period,” the outlet added.