A turbulent Democratic primary race for Wisconsin governor has thrown absentee voting into chaos, with thousands of voters who already returned their ballots potentially holding votes that could count for nothing in the state’s top race.
In response, the Wisconsin Democratic Party stepped in Tuesday, formally asking the state elections commission to give those voters a second chance to cast their ballot. More than 80,000 absentee ballots have already been submitted across the state.
The request is widely expected to spark a legal battle, with the August 11 primary now just three weeks out.
The push came after Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez, a Democrat, announced Friday that she was ending her gubernatorial campaign. Shortly after, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley jumped back into the race, having previously dropped out on July 8 to endorse Rodriguez. Crowley rejoined with the backing of current Gov. Tony Evers. Five Democratic candidates are now actively competing for the party’s nomination.
Under guidance already approved by the bipartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission earlier this month, any voter who returned an absentee ballot for Rodriguez would not be eligible to receive a new one. That guidance was originally put in place after another Democratic candidate, Missy Hughes, exited the race in June. Both Rodriguez and Hughes remain listed on the ballot despite no longer campaigning.
The eventual Democratic nominee will likely go up against Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, who faces only minimal opposition in his primary. The governor’s seat is open after Gov. Evers chose not to seek a third term. Democrats are hoping to hold the governorship and also flip both chambers of the state Legislature — which would give them full control of state government for the first time since 2010.
The Democratic Party argues the commission’s guidance should be thrown out because it reversed an existing rule from four years ago and conflicts with a 2006 U.S. Supreme Court decision. That ruling held that election rules should not be changed in the weeks leading up to a vote.
Democratic Party Chairman Devin Remiker warned that without a reversal, voters will be shut out of meaningfully participating. “Some voters will not be able to truly participate in our Democratic primary process,” he said in a statement. Remiker added that the party consulted all five active Democratic candidates before making the request.
Rodriguez’s exit came after she discovered her campaign finances were far worse than believed. She blamed her campaign manager for counting donations twice and underreporting expenses. Crowley had previously endorsed Rodriguez after pulling out of the race, but returned to the campaign just one day after she stepped aside.
Hughes had dropped out on June 22, urging Democrats to unite behind a candidate with the best shot at winning in November. She threw her support to Rodriguez, who then ended her own campaign less than a month later. Both Hughes and Crowley had been polling near the bottom of the field before withdrawing.
Mail-in absentee voting has been underway since late June, and early in-person voting is set to begin July 28.
The practice of canceling a submitted ballot — known as ballot spoiling — has a complicated legal history in Wisconsin. A Waukesha County judge sided with a Republican group in October 2022, ordering the elections commission to end guidance that had allowed ballot spoiling. A state appeals court, however, put that ruling on hold just weeks before that year’s midterm election.
Then in February, a state appeals court overturned the 2022 ruling on procedural grounds, finding the lawsuit had not been properly served. The court did not weigh in on the underlying legal question.
Despite that outcome, the elections commission voted 4-2 to ban voters who have already turned in absentee ballots from receiving a replacement. One Democratic commissioner joined the three Republican members in supporting the ban, while two Democrats voted against it.
Because Wisconsin does not require voters to register by party, there is no way to determine how many of the returned ballots were cast by Democrats or Republicans. Voters who received an absentee ballot but have not yet submitted it can still request a new one.
Historically, Wisconsin allowed absentee voters to spoil their ballot and vote again up to three times for any reason. However, this rarely happened in practice. Data from the Wisconsin Elections Commission shows that from the 2018 midterm elections through the 2022 primary, fewer than 1% of all votes were cast by people who had previously spoiled an absentee ballot.
