Still, that’s far lower than the 528 drop boxes that the commission was aware of in 2020. PoolNick Ramos, the executive director of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, a voting rights group that has pushed for more drop boxes, said he was discouraged by the number of municipalities that had decided not to use drop boxes this election. “Drop boxes are safe, they are reliable and secure.”Changing legal statusFor years, ballot drop boxes were legal in Wisconsin with little controversy or attention, and in 2020, they became a key tactic for municipalities to encourage safe voting during the coronavirus pandemic. A conservative group filed a lawsuit to ban drop boxes in Wisconsin, and the state Supreme Court’s conservative majority sided with them in 2022, banning drop boxes except ones inside clerks’ offices. In Milwaukee, most drop boxes are in front of libraries, and in Madison, the state capital and a Democratic stronghold, officials decided to locate almost all of their drop boxes in front of fire stations.

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Persons: Donald Trump, Dale Schmidt, Trump, Nick Ramos, “ We’re, ” Ramos, “ It’s, Joe Biden, Doug Diny, Diny, ”, “, I’ve, Jeff Mandell, Nancy Stenzel, Robin Vos, Scott Fitzgerald, Vos –, Janet Protasiewicz, Protasiewicz, Dylan Brogan, Schmidt, ” Schmidt, Eric Hovde, “ We’ve, ” Hovde, Catherine Engelbrecht, ” Engelbrecht, Mandell Organizations: CNN, Wisconsin county, “, Trump, Commission, Madison, Wisconsin Democracy, Wausau, Republican, City Hall, Department of Justice, Council, State Assembly, GOP, Democratic, USA, Conservative, US, Washington Post, WIRED Locations: Wisconsin, Dodge County, Milwaukee, Dodge County , Wisconsin, Juneau , Wisconsin, Wausau, ”, Hall, Madison, Kenosha