The Wisconsin Court of Appeals on Thursday mostly upheld a lower court’s decision that prevents the rejection of absentee ballots with address variations for upcoming elections. This decision is expected to reduce the number of ballot rejections in the state.

The legal dispute deals with interpreting an absentee ballot witness’s address, which involved a January 2024 ruling that impacted absentee ballots in the state. Under Wisconsin law, absentee ballots require completion in the presence of a witness, who would then sign it and provide their address. The state law notes that it is a requirement that an absent ballot certificate include the address of a witness to be counted. Further, if the certificate is completed improperly or does not include a certificate, verification should be sent by a municipal clerk to the witness for correction. Various groups such as Rise Inc., a youth engagement organization, criticized the requirements for the witness address to be a requisite to ballot validity.

The unanimous three-judge appeals panel’s ruling requires that witnesses’ certificates include a sufficient address to identify where the witness could be reached. The ruling is distinct from the trial court’s standard, which established that an address is only deemed sufficient if it could allow a “member of the community” to reasonably locate the witness rather than relying on the municipal clerk.

Rise argued against the legislative definition. In their argument, they requested a broader language that accommodates unique address situations, such as the mobility of college students. They also argued that the discretion should remain in the hands of municipal clerks rather than a “reasonable person in the community.” Further, the strict criteria imposed by the Wisconsin legislature included the street name, street number, and municipality name even though “address” had not been defined under state law.

Absentee voting remains a contentious partisan issue for states during the election seasons. Last week, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that absentee ballot drop boxes could be used ahead of the November general election. This ruling reversed a 2022 decision, which did not regard dropping off an absent ballot as a return to a municipal clerk. A federal judge in Mississippi is currently grappling with the decision of whether to count mail-in ballots for up to five days after the election. Although mail-in voting had been temporarily permitted during the pandemic, states are now reevaluating their legislation on the matter.

Wisconsin has dealt with similar electoral hurdles aside from absentee ballots. Just last December, in a 4-3 decision, the state’s highest court ruled that the current electoral map violated the state’s constitution. In the court’s order, it required that the district boundary lines be redrawn prior to the 2024 election season.

Thursday’s decision will impact the upcoming state primary in August and the general election in November.