State Supreme Court Dismisses Suit About Mobile Voting Van In Racine

The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that an official with the Republican Party doesn’t have the legal standing to challenge a decision by the Wisconsin Elections Commission regarding the use of a mobile voting van in Racine in 2022.

The justices were split, 4-3, along ideological lines. The court’s liberal majority – Justices Ann Walsh Bradley, Rebecca Frank Dallet, Janet Protasiewicz and Jill Karofsky – affirmed the majority opinion to dismiss the case. The court’s conservatives – Justices Annette Kingsland Ziegler, Rebeca Grassl Bradley and Brian Hagedorn – dissented.

The suit, filed by the Racine County Republican Party Chairman Ken Brown, sought to stop the use of mobile voting vans in any future election. The court’s opinion said that Brown didn’t prove how he was “aggrieved” by the Elections Commission’s decision under state law and thus dismissed the suit.

The court’s decision Tuesday doesn’t evaluate the legality of mobile voting sites.

According to the Associated Press, a single van was used only once in Racine during a primary election in 2022. The mobile van allowed voters to cast absentee ballots in the two weeks leading up to the election. 

Brown filed a complaint about the van to the Elections Commission, but it was dismissed days before the 2022 election. He then filed the lawsuit.

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