Wisconsin mayor removes ballot drop box from outside City Hall: ‘Nothing nefarious’

The mayor of the central Wisconsin city of Wausau hauled away a ballot drop box, an action that has angered some local residents.

Mayor Doug Diny posed for a photo sporting a hard hat and work gloves as he wheeled away the city’s only ballot drop box outside City Hall. When Diny ran for mayor in April, he ran against absentee ballot drop boxes .

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

Diny said that while he is generally opposed to drop boxes, he’s not taking a position on whether it should be in place because ballots have already been administered.

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

In Wisconsin, it is a felony to impede or prevent “the free exercise of the franchise at an election.” The nonpartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission urged clerks to contact law enforcement if anyone attempted to tamper with a drop box or prevent its use.

According to the Wausau city clerk, the ballot drop box did not have “ballots, payments, or other documents inside” at the time of its removal. Officials said, however, that it was about to be made available to voters.

“After consulting with numerous City officials and reviewing best practices, the City Clerk started the process of providing an absentee ballot drop box, located in front of City Hall. The box was not yet functional: it was locked and clearly labeled, 'Kiosk Closed.' Since the drop box was closed and locked, no ballots could be accepted,” said a statement from the city clerk.

Ballot drop boxes have been a hot-button matter for Wisconsin Republicans since the 2020 electio n when former President Donald Trump repeatedly and falsely claimed they increased election fraud and led to his loss in the state. In 2022, the Wisconsin Supr eme Court struck down their use.

That decision was overturned earlier this year, with the court's newly liberal majority allowing local municipalities to decide .

Now, drop boxes are heavily embraced throughout the state's Democratic strongholds in Dane and Milwaukee counties, but in Republican-heavy municipalities , they are not used. Six Republican-led municipalities in Milwaukee County opted not to use ballot drop boxes, as well as two municipalities in Waukesha County and three in Dodge County, according to CNN .

The Wisconsin Supreme Court decision said only city clerks have the right to choose whether to use a drop box. The mayor does not have this authority. The Wausau Police Department does not plan to investigate the incident further.

Diny has maintained he did nothing wrong by moving the box.

“The box was sitting unsecured on the sidewalk in front of city hall. I moved it to a safe location inside the building,” Diny said in a statement to NewsChannel 7 .

Meanwhile, a rally was held outside City Hall on Tuesday evening, pushing Diny to answer questions.

“The city of Wausau is just trying to confuse the voters, make it harder for people to vote, and undermine our elections,” said Wausau activist Nancy Stencil.

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Another Wausau resident, Pamela Bannister, called for Diny to apologize and return the drop box.

“This is the kind of action that’s designed to stir the pot,” Bannister said. “It does not tamp down the rhetoric that we’re all facing in this election cycle. It accomplishes nothing positive and amounts to, in my estimation, voting interference and intimidation.”