Racine's mobile voting van site prompts complaint by Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty with Elections Commission

The Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty has filed a complaint with the Wisconsin Elections Commission alleging the Racine City Clerk violated state election laws through the use of mobile voting sites.

The complaint by the conservative law firm — filed on behalf of Racine County GOP Chairman Ken Brown — takes aim at the Racine voting van that travels throughout the city to meet voters in their neighborhoods and collect early ballots. The complaint claims the van is disproportionately deployed in heavily Democratic voting wards. 

The election statute in question states "a municipality may elect to designate a site other than the office of the municipal clerk or board of election commissioners as the location from which electors of the municipality may request and vote absentee ballots and to which voted absentee ballots shall be returned by electors for any election."

The same law says "no site may be designated that affords an advantage to any political party," and states absentee ballot collection sites must be located as near as possible to a clerk's office.

Racine city clerk Tara McMenamin disputed accusations that the van was selectively dispatched to blue-voting areas, and said any perception of bias stems from a poor understanding of the city's wards, which traditionally lean Democratic.

"You can see our polling locations are all over the city — north, south, east, west, and we try to spread them out appropriately," McMenamin said. "All of our wards...all lean Democratic, so it would be extremely hard to say 'yes, no, this ward or that ward.' We try to spread it out evenly throughout the entire city."

The voting van is a relatively new election apparatus in Racine and was employed during the Aug. 9 primary and this year's February elections after being purchased by the city through a Center for Tech and Civic Life grant.

Critics of the van suggested it operated as an absentee drop box in the primary election — a charge that has yet to be proven and would violate state statutes after drop boxes were outlawed by the state Supreme Court last month.

The van's proponents say it is fully staffed, strictly utilized for in-person early voting and is only deployed two weeks before elections in accordance with state law, meaning it is  not akin to a mobile drop box. 

"There's no latch on mobile van that allows people to put in their ballot when we're not open," McMenamin said "The only time people are allowed to bring ballots there was exactly the same as it was at City Hall in room 207. It's always staffed, and it's only open when it's staffed."

In a statement issued by WILL, the organization's Deputy Counsel Anthony LoCoco called on WEC to take action against the city of Racine. 

“Racine’s use of mobile voting sites violates clear directives in state law on the collection of absentee ballots at alternative sites," LoCoco said. "WEC must make clear that Racine is violating the law and ensure that clerks across the state understand what is, and is not permitted in Wisconsin law.”

The allegations against Racine were filed as a 506 complaint, and categorized as an "Election Official Abuse or Violation," of state voting laws. Should the WEC rule in favor of WILL, Racine may be ordered to eliminate the voting van from its electoral procedures.

Until there is a ruling from WEC, Racine plans to continue using the voting van and will operate under the assumption the practice is not a violation of state election laws, McMenamin said.

"Until we hear an order from a judge or there's a change in the law, we're going to use it how we have been," McMenamin said. "We're going to keep noticing it in our Type B Notice, we're not going to have it open other than any other days and times that our notice is there for in-person voting, and certainly people can still come while we're open, during those days and times."

The WEC said the commission traditionally weighs in on complaints in the order in which they are received, but declined to comment on upcoming rulings or provide an indicator of its leaning on the legality of the Racine voting van.