Wisconsin mayor carts away absentee ballot drop box, says he did nothing wrong

MADISON, Wis. — The mayor of a central Wisconsin city who ran for office because of his opposition to absentee ballot boxes said Wednesday that he did nothing wrong when he put on work gloves, a hard hat and used a hand truck to move a mailbox outside City Hall.

Wausau Mayor Doug Diny posed for a photo Sunday to commemorate the removal of the city’s only ballot drop box, which was placed outside City Hall late last week around the same time that mail-in ballots were sent to voters.

“This is no different than the maintenance guy moving it there,” Diny said Wednesday. “I’m a staff member. There’s nothing malicious going on here. I’m hoping for a good outcome.”

The measure, which sparked protests in the city Tuesday night and anger among drop box advocates, is the latest example in Wisconsin of the battle over whether communities will allow drop boxes. absentee ballot boxes.

Several Republican-controlled municipalities, including six in Milwaukee County, two in Waukesha County and three in Dodge County, have opted not to use drop boxes for the November presidential election. In contrast, predominantly Democratic cities, including Milwaukee and Madison, have embraced the practice.

Drop boxes were widely used in 2020, fueled by a dramatic increase in mail voting due to the COVID-19 pandemic. At least 500 drop boxes were set up in more than 430 communities for the election that year, including more than a dozen in Madison and Milwaukee. Drop boxes were used in 39 other states during the 2022 election, according to the Stanford-MIT Healthy Elections Project.

After former President Donald Trump lost the state in 2020, he and Republicans claimed that drop boxes enabled cheating, even though they provided no evidence. Democrats, election officials and some Republicans have argued that the boxes are secure.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court, then controlled by conservatives, banned the use of drop boxes in 2022.

But in July, the now liberal-controlled court that decision was reversed and said drop boxes could be used. However, the court left it up to each community to decide whether to install them.

The Wisconsin Election Commission, in guidance sent in July to all 1,800-plus officials who administer elections in Wisconsin, saying it is up to municipal officials to determine the location of ballot drop boxes.

Wausau, with a population of about 40,000, was among the cities that did not use post office boxes in the August primary. Wausau is in Marathon County, which Trump won by 18 points in both 2016 and 2020.

Diny ran as a conservative and was endorsed by the Republican Party in the nonpartisan mayoral race. He is in his first year as mayor of Wausau after being elected in April.

Diny said he and City Clerk Kaitlyn Bernarde never discussed the drop box before it was placed outside City Hall late last week. Diny said he decided to take action Sunday when he realized the drop box was “not safe.”

Bernarde did not respond to emails and voicemail messages seeking comment on Wednesday.

Diny said he wanted the city council to have a say in what happens to the drop box. If the city council had voted to put the drop box up, Diny said he would not have had the authority to remove it.

Diny said he is generally against ballot boxes, but he also said he takes no position on whether this should also be done for the ballots that are now in the hands of voters and can be turned in until Election Day.

“As it stands now, I don’t have a dog in the hunt,” Diny said. “I want it to be done the right way and with the right input and consent from citizens.”

It is a crime in Wisconsin to obstruct or hinder the “free exercise of the right to vote at an election.” The Wisconsin Elections Commission urged officials to contact law enforcement if anyone attempts to tamper with or prevent the use of a drop box.

The U.S. Election Assistance Commission has a series of recommendations to ensure the security of drop boxes that are not inside buildings, including that they be under video surveillance, be secured, be in a well-lit area and that a clear chain of custody be established for ballot collection. The Wausau drop box was under video surveillance but had not yet been bolted down.

Diny insisted he had done nothing wrong. City Attorney Anne Jacobson did not respond to messages seeking comment Wednesday.

“If someone had put it in their pickup truck and driven away with it, the police would be looking for them for theft of property,” Diny said. The drop box is safe at City Hall until the problem is resolved, he said.

Wausau resident Pamela Bannister called on Diny to apologize and return the mailbox during a City Council meeting Tuesday night.

“This is the kind of action that is designed to stir things up,” Bannister said. “It does nothing to temper the rhetoric that we’re all seeing in this election cycle. It accomplishes nothing positive and amounts to, in my estimation, voting interference and intimidation.”