Nonprofit Madison law firm Law Forward filed a class-action lawsuit on behalf of four of the 193 Wisconsin voters whose ballots were misplaced and not counted in the 2024 General Election. Law Forward filed a notice of intent March 5 and began the process of filing a suit against the City of Madison and Dane County.
Mostly students were impacted, Thompson said at a press conference the week the lawsuit was launched.
Law Forward is asking for $175,000 in damages for each individual, well above the $50,000 cap for class-action suits against municipalities. The firm will argue the cap limiting their recovery for the loss of the right to vote is unconstitutional, according to the notice.
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Law Forward Staff Counsel Scott Thompson said a notice of intent is required to inform the city how much money is at stake and give them a basic outline of the nature of the claim.
The Wisconsin Election Committee launched a separate investigation after Madison Clerk Maribeth Witzel-Behl disclosed that 193 uncounted ballots were discovered Dec. 18, almost a month and a half after the election, according to Wisconsin Public Radio.
The WEC has not yet determined whether Witzel-Behl violated any laws, and the investigation is still ongoing, according to PBS Wisconsin.
The 120-day waiting period before a lawsuit can be filed is still in effect, Thompson said. Only until that period expires or the claim is rejected can it move forward.
“Under Wisconsin law, it doesn’t matter whether there was an intentional deprivation of your right to vote or not, you should be entitled to damages if you were denied the right to vote, regardless of intent,” Thompson said.
While the missing ballots would not have affected the results of the election, every vote counts in a democratic process. For example, in 2020, the United States experienced a large-scale threat to its democratic voting process when an attempt was made to throw out 200,000 votes in Wisconsin, according to Thompson.
“In Wisconsin, the history of the right to vote is inexorably intertwined with lawsuits seeking damages on behalf of voters who were denied the right to vote,” Thompson said.
This lawsuit investigation is ongoing, and Thompson encouraged disenfranchised voters to provide more information and join the suit.
“We want to be really clear in Wisconsin, the right to vote matters,” Thompson said. “The right to vote has value, and we are going to stick up for it, and that is what the plaintiffs in our case are going to do.”
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