Voters in Wisconsin who have already sent in their absentee ballots for the state’s primary on Aug. 11 will not be allowed to void them and request a new ballot, a judge has ruled.
The July 29 ruling by Dane County Circuit Judge David Conway is a rebuff to the state’s Democrats, who filed a lawsuit in the wake of the withdrawal on July 17 of Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez, a Democrat who was seen as the frontrunner in the race.
Democrats in Wisconsin are choosing a successor to Gov. Tony Evers, who turns 75 two days after the election in November and has opted against seeking a third term.
More than 117,000 absentee ballots had been returned by July 29, and the Democrats are concerned that many of those might have been cast for Rodriguez, or for former state economic development director Missy Hughes, who dropped out in June.
Rodriguez dropped out after firing her campaign manager when she discovered there were hundreds of thousands of dollars less in the campaign fund than had been expected.
“As we have continued to dig into our financial reports, it has become clear there are issues that would be an ongoing distraction,” Rodriguez said, adding that she could not allow it to “become a cloud over an election Democrats need to win.”
On July 18, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, who had bowed out of the race 10 days earlier and endorsed Rodriguez, re-entered the contest after her departure.
Crowley is joined in the Democratic primary race by former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, Madison state Rep. Francesca Hong, Madison state Sen. Kelda Roys, and former Department of Administration Secretary Joel Brennan.
Democratic Socialist Ahead in Poll
A poll this week by Marquette Law School puts Hong, a Korean American who describes herself as a “proud democratic socialist,” at 38 percent, way ahead of Barnes and Crowley.
On July 9, the bipartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission voted 4–2 to distribute guidance to the 2,000 clerks who run the primaries, saying absentee voters cannot change their ballots after they have been mailed, a process known as ballot spoiling.
The state’s Democratic Party objected and supported a lawsuit filed by three voters, who argued that state law allows those who have submitted absentee ballots to change their minds before those ballots are counted.
Eduardo Castro, an attorney representing the Democrats, said during a hearing on July 28 that the elections commission’s decision would disenfranchise voters across Wisconsin.
But Conway ruled that “the unambiguous language of the statute does not allow a voter to spoil an absentee ballot after it is returned.”
“Plaintiffs are three Dane County voters who have already obtained and returned absentee ballots for the August 2026 partisan primary election and who now wish to spoil their ballot and vote for a different candidate because their chosen candidate has dropped out,” Conway said.
He said all three plaintiffs had voted for Rodriguez.
“If a voter returns their voted ballot and later changes their mind about who they would like to vote for or because the candidate they originally voted for has dropped out of the race, this does not constitute an ‘accident or mistake,’” Conway said.
The judge declined to issue a temporary restraining order, which would have forced the state elections commission to rescind its guidance.
Conway said the guidance issued by the elections commission was consistent with the law.
Republican Commission Chair Welcomes Ruling
Don Millis, the Republican chair of the elections commission, welcomed Conway’s ruling.
“The law is clear. Once a voter returns an absentee ballot to the clerk, the voter cannot decide to change his or her vote. The law does not permit do-overs,” Millis said.
The Republican National Committee had opposed the attempt to vote a second time.
Wisconsin Democratic Party Chair Devin Remiker said Conway’s ruling was wrong, but it is unclear whether it would appeal.
The winner of the Democratic primary will advance to November’s general election, most likely against U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, who is expected to win the Republican primary.
If the Democrats manage to retain the governor’s office and flip both chambers of the state Legislature, it will be the first time they’ve controlled both since 2010.
