On Tuesday, the RNC filed a lawsuit against the City of Green Bay, Wisconsin, seeking injunctive relief against City Clerk Celestine Jeffreys prohibiting her from restricting public observation of the voting process, and a declaration that Jeffreys had violated Wisconsin Statute Section 7.41 by doing so.
The Complaint further details the issue, noting:
31. Since in-person absentee ballot voting commenced on October 25, 2022, Jeffreys has unnecessarily split the voting process into two different areas: part of the voting process takes place in her office, and part of the voting process takes place along a long stretch in a public hallway outside of her office. Attached as Exhibit A is a diagram depicting the current layout of in-person absentee ballot voting.
32. When electors arrive to vote, they must enter Jeffreys’ office to check-in, register to vote, and/or obtain an in-person absentee ballot.
33. After an elector obtains an in-person absentee ballot, the elector leaves Jeffreys’ office and enters into the hallway in order to vote his or her in-person absentee ballot, then the elector has an individual perform and execute the required witness certification to the in-person absentee ballot out of the view of the observers, and then the elector deposits the in-person absentee ballot into a blue ballot box that is located down the hallway and out of view of the observers. Attached as Exhibit B are photographs showing the aspects of the in-person absentee ballot voting process in the hallway outside of Jeffreys’ office where no observers are present.
34. Although there are two different areas where the in-person absentee ballot voting process takes place, Jeffreys has prohibited observers from observing any aspect of the voting process that takes place in the public hallway outside of her office. See Exhibit A.
35. In particular, Jeffreys has restricted observers to a small area of her office, where they can only observe electors coming into her office to check-in, register to vote, and obtain an in-person absentee ballot—but they are expressly prohibited from observing any aspect of the voting process that takes place in the public hallway including, but not limited to, the witness certification process and depositing the in-person absentee ballot in the ballot box. See Exhibits A and B.
Though the concerns were raised to her, Jeffreys apparently failed to properly address the situation. Per Townhall:
When the apparent issue was raised with Jeffreys would still not allow observers to witness the entire process and, according to the complaint, threatened that observers would “be kicked out if they observe in the hallway and that observers must talk to her legal department if they required further explanation.”
Additional issues noted in the complaint include the claim that “Jeffreys refused to allow Plaintiffs and other observers to observe the voting process in the hallway—despite the fact that the hallway is a public area and others, who are not present to observe, are free to traverse through the hallway while voting is taking place,” along with concerns that “[o]n more than one occasion when observers left the observing area to use the restroom, the blue bin being used as a ballot return box, which was outside of an elevator area, appeared to be unattended and unguarded.”
On Wednesday, Brown County Circuit Court granted the RNC’s request for relief.
Another huge win for transparency!
In less than 24 hours, the RNC sued and won in Green Bay to ensure access for GOP poll watchers.
We are grateful the court granted a swift and decisive victory, and we will continue to fight for election transparency across the country!
— Ronna McDaniel (@GOPChairwoman) November 2, 2022
RNC Chairwoman celebrated the ruling, calling it “another huge win for transparency,” and noting that, “In less than 24 hours, the RNC sued and won in Green Bay to ensure access for GOP poll watchers.”
This follows Tuesday’s win for the RNC in Pennsylvania, where the state Supreme Court held that mail-in ballots that violate the law regarding improper dating should be separated off and not counted on election night.
Kudos to the RNC (and others) who’ve gone on offense ahead of the midterms to ensure election integrity.
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