Superior Stops Using Ballot Drop Off Boxes For Now
SUPERIOR, Wis. – March 15 is the first day Superior is sending out absentee ballots to those who have requested them for the spring election April 5. Those who get one are being asked not to put them off inside the drop boxes outside City Hall.
This method of ballot collecting saw its use increase across Wisconsin during the COVID pandemic. How it could be used in the future may be changing after judge in Waukesha County ruled in February that the guidance the Wisconsin Elections Commission gave for this may go against state law.
City Clerk Camila Ramos says after consulting with City Attorney Frog Prell, they have decided not to use the two drop boxes located outside the parking area off Hammond Avenue until further notice. “We are not ‘staffing’ that drop box, even though it’s under surveillance 24 hours and it’s at our building. It’s not attached to the building and it’s not in our line of sight, so we can’t really watch it the way some of our legislators would like us to.”
Ramos adds they are expecting to see around 1,500 absentee ballots come into the office in April, up from the around 700 that usually come in for a spring election prior to the pandemic. In case someone does leave it in the drop box, the office will try to help people correct it. “We’ll probably be calling them, if we have contact information on hand, otherwise we will e-mail them to let them know that they either have to come in and verify that they dropped off the ballot. Otherwise we will return the ballot and have them either mail it back or drop it off again in person in our office.”
Overall, Ramos says they want to make sure everyone’s vote is counted, and are doing their best to get the word out regarding this change. “Every ballot that we send out has an additional notice that says (this). (Also,) don’t wait until Election Day. Get it in the mail as soon as you can.”
The city will have in-person early voting starting next Wednesday, March 22. It will run through April 1. Hours that people can vote early in-person are 8 to 4:30, except for April 1 which is 8 to 5.
