Wisconsin Judge Mulls What Constitutes an Address for Voting

MADISON, Wis. (AP) A Wisconsin judge considered Tuesday whether to make clear that local election officials can accept absentee ballots missing parts of a witnesses address, the latest legal fight in the battleground state where Republicans oppose the acceptance of partial addresses.

The case was brought by the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin last fall, weeks before the midterm election. The crux of the lawsuit, and another similar pending case, rests with how much of a witness address needs to be present in order for an absentee ballot to count.

Wisconsin law says if the witness address is missing, the ballot can't be counted. But state law does not define what constitutes missing. The bipartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission hasn't said what constitutes a missing address. But it has issued guidance on what constitutes an address, saying it must contain three elements: a street number, street name and municipality.

Theres no definition of missing out there, which means (the election commission) is failing the clerks, its failing the people of Wisconsin by not determining what it should mean for purposes of ballot counting," argued Dan Lenz, an attorney for the League of Women Voters.