Fox Cities municipal clerks mailing tens of thousands of absentee ballots following Wisconsin Supreme Court decision

APPLETON – Fox Cities municipal clerks are getting ready to mail thousands of absentee ballots for the November election following the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s Monday ruling to keep the Green Party’s presidential ticket off the ballot.

Neenah City Clerk Stephanie Cheslock said she ordered about 20,000 ballots that will start being sent out Tuesday and plans to have all applications on file processed by Thursday. She said the supreme court’s decision didn’t impact the process, as workers prepped envelopes in advance.

“There’s really no change for us,” Cheslock said. “We’re just excited we can actually get them mailed out on time and as usual.”

Menasha City Clerk Haley Krautkramer said she ordered about 15,000 ballots and hopes to have them mailed by the end of the week. Fox Crossing Village Clerk Darla Fink said she also hopes to have about 12,000 ballots processed and mailed by the end of the week.

“The goal is that all of them will be in the mail by the end of the day Thursday,” she said. “Realistically it might be Friday, but that’s kind of where we’re hoping here to meet the statute deadline.”

Appleton City Clerk Kami Lynch did not respond to calls asking when and how many absentee ballots would be sent to voters. 

More:Wisconsin Supreme Court rules to keep Green Party off the ballot

More:Don't trust the post office? Fox Cities clerks set up drop boxes for returning absentee ballots

The state Elections Commission split 3-3 last month on whether to put Green Party nominee Howie Hawkins and his running mate, Angela Walker, on the ballot. The Republican members of the commission backed putting Hawkins on the ballot, but the Democratic members opposed doing so because Walker listed two addresses on her campaign paperwork. 

Walker said she listed two addresses because she moved while the Green Party collected signatures to get on the ballot. She and Hawkins this month asked the Supreme Court to put them on the ballot, contending the state Elections Commission hadn't followed the law.

Wisconsin Supreme Court justices issued a 4-3 order Thursday telling election officials not to send absentee ballots while they decided whether to take the case. The order was issued by conservatives who control the court, while the court's liberals dissented. 

The court decided Monday in a 4-3 vote to vacate its earlier order because Hawkins and Walker waited to long to bring a legal challenge. The majority wrote it “wouldn’t be able to provide meaningful relief without completely upsetting the election.”

Cheslock said if the court’s decision went the other way, it could have delayed mailing absentee ballots by one or two weeks.

“It would have put us behind our timeline and it would have been very costly staff-wise, and printing those ballots is a very expensive endeavor,” she said. “Especially for such a big election where clerks order ballots at a higher percentage.”

Patrick Marley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel contributed to this report.