Absentee voters in Milwaukee, Dane counties can say they're 'indefinitely confined' and skip photo ID, clerks say

Milwaukee and Dane County clerks issued guidance Wednesday that gives voters who request absentee ballots the option to declare themselves "indefinitely confined" if necessary, allowing them to vote without showing a photo ID.

But the Republican Party of Wisconsin accused the clerks of "illegally rigging an election" and said it will pursue legal action to stop this.

Milwaukee and Dane counties are the bedrocks for the state's Democrats.

Milwaukee County Clerk George Christenson wrote in a letter posted to Facebook Wednesday that he had informed municipal clerks in the county that this is an appropriate course of action during the coronavirus outbreak and given Gov. Tony Evers’ stay-at-home order and guidance from the Wisconsin Elections Commission.

“I urge all voters who request a ballot and do not have the ability or equipment to upload a valid ID to indicate that they are indefinitely confined,” he wrote. “Voters should not be reluctant to check the box that says they are indefinitely confined because this is a pandemic and this option exists in state law to help preserve everyone’s right to vote.”

In a Facebook post, Dane County Clerk Scott McDonell gave the same guidance and wrote that he was declaring that all of the county's voters "may indicate as needed that they are indefinitely confined due to illness."

In interviews, the county clerks said they were aiming their messages at those who are staying at home to avoid the spread of illness but don't have the technology or ability to provide a photo of their ID when requesting absentee ballots.

"This is not an effort to circumvent the voter ID law," McDonell said. "If you're 25 and you've got an ID (and a way to take a photo of it), this is not for you."

But the Republican Party of Wisconsin said the clerks are "willfully ignoring" state election law on voter identification requirements.

"Reports of clerks willfully ignoring state statutes is an outrageous assault on our democratic process and Wisconsin’s election laws," Andrew Hitt, the party's chairman, said in a statement. "It represents a blatant disregard of the rule of law by those elected to protect and apply them. The Republican Party of Wisconsin will aggressively pursue any legal remedy available to put a stop to clerks unilaterally and illegally rigging an election in their favor.”

The head of a conservative legal group also criticized the move.

"Clerks may not change the law or use the pandemic to evade the requirement for photo ID," Rick Esenberg, the president of the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, said in a statement. "Voters may not check this box solely because of the coronavirus pandemic and the governor's shut-down order. It may be used only because of the voter's age, illness or physical infirmity."

Questions and confusion have swirled around the April 7 election because of the global pandemic that has killed thousands and forced many to stay in their homes. On the ballot is the presidential primary and elections for state Supreme Court, Milwaukee mayor, Milwaukee County executive and other local offices.

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Two lawsuits over the election are pending. One seeks to have all voting conducted by mail, with voters able to cast absentee ballots until June.

Wisconsin law requires most voters to provide a copy of a photo ID to vote in person or absentee. But the requirement does not apply to those who are indefinitely confined, which the state Elections Commission describes as those who "have a difficult time getting to the polls due to age, illness, infirmity or disability."

The clerks said the illness exemption applies to more people now because so many are staying in their homes to avoid the spread of coronavirus.

"I just want to make sure that people who are confined and don’t have any way to do this … aren’t disenfranchised from voting," Christenson said.

McDonell said other counties should take the same approach.

"This is happening to lots of people who are elderly," he said of those having trouble getting absentee ballots. "It's not just Dane County."

Wisconsin has seen a surge in absentee ballots because of the pandemic, with more than 625,000 absentee ballots requested as of Wednesday.

That's more than twice as many as were cast in the 2016 presidential primary.

Christenson and McDonell counseled voters to request a ballot on myvote.wi.gov, choose the box that reads “I certify that I am indefinitely confined due to age, illness, infirmity, or disability and request ballots to be sent to me for every election until I am no longer confined or fail to return a ballot.”

That will allow voters to skip the step of uploading their identification to receive a ballot, they wrote.

When Evers’ order is lifted, voters can contact their municipal clerks or update their information on myvote.wi.gov to change their designation back to its original state, they wrote.