Ballot spoiling off the table in WI after court upholds ban

By SCOTT BAUER
Associated Press

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A Wisconsin appeals court is refusing to block a lower court’s ruling prohibiting voters who already submitted an absentee ballot from voiding it and voting again, a rarely used practice known as ballot spoiling. The 2nd District Court of Appeals decided Thursday against hearing an appeal of a Waukesha County circuit court judge’s ruling this month in favor of a conservative group founded by prominent Republicans. That ruling led the bipartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission on Friday to rescind its guidance that allowed the spoiling of ballots that had already been cast. More than 397,000 absentee ballots have been cast in Wisconsin as of Friday.