13 ballot drop boxes open in Milwaukee for August primary

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) – Two years after they were banned by the Wisconsin Supreme Court, ballot drop boxes are back.

On Monday, 13 ballot drop boxes were placed around Milwaukee for the August primary. The boxes are legal after the now liberal-controlled Wisconsin Supreme Court reversed its own 2022 decision banning them. For the full list of drop box locations, click here.

"Drop boxes offer a secure and convenient method of returning your mailed ballot," Milwaukee Election Commission Executive Director Paulina Gutierrez said. "You put it inside an envelope, you sign it, have your witness sign and print their name, and then add the address. Once it's sealed, you can walk it over to any of our drop boxes."

The drop boxes are located on city property, made of steel, and anchored down. They are also under 24-hour surveillance to ensure your ballot is secure.

"We have been meeting with law enforcement and we are prepared to deal with issues and can immediately access those cameras if we need to," Gutierrez explained.

As Wisconsin is a no-excuse state, you can request an absentee ballot for any reason.

"We've been fighting to get these drop boxes back since they were abolished," Souls to the Polls President Gregory Lewis said.

For the voting advocacy group Souls to the Polls, seeing drop boxes reinstated is amazing.

"We want to eliminate every excuse for our community not to vote," Lewis said.

To make voting even more accessible, another person can legally drop off a ballot for someone else.

"Some people are disabled, and it is such a challenge to even walk at all, and you're telling me they have to be responsible for going to a drop box and dropping in an absentee ballot. That's almost an impossibility in some cases," Lewis told CBS 58.

For the primary, voters can drop off their ballot between now and Election Day, Aug. 16, at 6 p.m.

If you want to vote in person, the city has extended voting hours at a few early voting centers. The Capitol Drive Voting Center at 6001 W. Capitol Dr., the Zeidler Municipal Building at 841 N. Broadway Ave., and the Zablocki Library at 3501 W. Oklahoma Ave. will all have early voting until 7 p.m. during the work week.

For more information on early voting, click here.