7/12/2024

Wisconsin’s highest court reverses statewide prohibition on secure drop boxes. Republicans’ official party agenda spells trouble for voting rights. And, former President Donald Trump tries to distance himself from Project 2025 as the extreme right-wing agenda hits the mainstream.

Wisconsin’s highest court reinstates drop boxes after 2022 ban

In one of Wisconsin’s most closely-watched election cases, the state’s highest court reversed a broad prohibition on secure ballot drop boxes ahead of the 2024 election.

The decision from the majority-liberal Wisconsin Supreme Court overturned a 2022 decision from the court’s then-conservative majority that banned the use of secure drop boxes statewide. The case stems from a lawsuit filed by Priorities USA, the Wisconsin Alliance for Retired Americans and an individual voter who challenged the state’s drop box ban.

It remains to be seen whether Wisconsin Republicans will capitalize on the decision. In March, Wisconsin Republican Party Chairman Brian Schimming told NBC News it would be “malpractice” to not educate GOP voters on drop boxes if they want to use them. “It doesn’t mean we have to like them,” he said.

The response may become clearer next week, when Republicans in Wisconsin and beyond gather in Milwaukee for the Republican National Convention (RNC).

Speaking to Democracy Docket last month, Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC) Chair Ann Jacobs said the prohibition had the biggest impact on rural areas, “which in Wisconsin also coincides with the redder areas.” WEC convened Thursday to discuss how to best advise clerks on using drop boxes. Read more about the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s decision and what a top Wisconsin elections official said about drop boxes.

In another win for Wisconsin voters, the state appeals court mostly affirmed a lower court ruling that will likely reduce the rejection rate of absentee ballots in the state’s primary and general elections. Read more on that decision here.

Republicans’ national agenda takes aim at voting rights

As the RNC approaches, the party’s official agenda became public this week. Democracy Docket’s Matt Cohen details what the plan unsurprisingly entails for voting rights and elections.

The GOP plans to “implement measures to secure our Elections,” according to Republicans’ official platform, which also mentions voter ID laws, a return to paper ballots, proof of citizenship and same-day voting as a number of key voting issues for the party.

It’s almost identical, Cohen notes, to the language on election integrity in the party’s 2016 platform — the same platform Trump ran and lost on in 2020.

“Trump, the RNC and other various right-wing entities and organizations have amplified their assault on voting in the current election cycle,” Cohen writes, “with dozens of lawsuits filed in the past couple of years targeting various aspects of voting in America.” Read more about the RNC’s agenda.

What is Project 2025 and why is everyone talking about it?

“Google Project 2025,” said President Joe Biden’s X account this week. The far-right policy agenda has featured prominently in the news lately as more people are made aware. While hosting the annual BET Awards last week, actress Taraji P. Henson warned viewers that voting for former President Donald Trump is tantamount to voting for Project 2025.

But what is Project 2025? Cohen explains that it’s a “collection of policy transition proposals that outline how, should Trump win the November election, he can vastly remake the federal government most effectively to carry out an extremist far-right agenda.”

Despite trying to distance himself from the plan, Trump is arguably the centerpiece. “Numerous former Trump administration officials contributed to the nearly 1,000-page mandate, including former Acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller, former Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Ken Cuccinelli and Peter Navarro, a former top trade advisor to Trump.”

“Trump also has deep ties to The Heritage Foundation, the group behind Project 2025, and the dozens of conservative organizations who contributed to the plan.” Read more about it here.

OPINION: How the Supreme Court Bolstered Project 2025

While we’re on the topic of Project 2025, Marc Elias details how multiple decisions from the U.S. Supreme Court, such as the presidential immunity ruling, could help bring Project 2025 to pass.

“Project 2025 advances an extreme MAGA agenda that is fiercely isolationist, xenophobic and disdainful of democratic norms,” Elias writes. “It demonizes intellectuals, dismisses experts and idolizes charismatic strongmen.” Read more here.

What We’re Doing

As Republicans mount a nationwide campaign against noncitizen voting, which is already illegal in federal elections, Democracy Docket writer Courtney Cohn unpacks some troubling myths about the issue, such as the baseless claim that large numbers of noncitizens are voting.

Perhaps most importantly, she explains that the proof-of-citizenship requirements Republicans are pushing can end up stopping eligible voters who don’t have easy access to citizenship documents — like passports and birth certificates — from voting. “That’s the most dangerous part for democracy.” Learn more about what’s true and false about noncitizen voting and how the issue is playing out locally.

Everything is bigger in Texas — including voter suppression. Former Congressman Beto O'Rourke discusses the fight for voting rights in the Lone Star State and how people can help. Watch on YouTube here.