Marathon County District Attorney Theresa Wetzsteon has launched an investigation into Wausau Mayor Doug Diny after Diny removed a ballot dropbox from its location outside City Hall on Sunday, which experts say is outside the scope of his authority.
Wetzsteon confirmed the investigation to the Associated Press, also telling the AP that she has requested assistance from the state Department of Justice.
The Wausau Pilot & Review reported Tuesday that Diny donned a Department of Public Works hardhat and gloves on Sunday to remove the dropbox and place it inside his office. The dropbox had been placed in front of City Hall in order to collect not only ballots but utility payments and the like. It was locked and had not yet been in use.
“The box was re-labeled on Friday to properly label the box as an ‘Official Drop Box’ to eventually be able to collect payments, ballots, and other important city requests,” Wausau City Clerk Kaitlyn Bernarde wrote in a statement. “Once re-labeled, it was the intention of the Clerk’s Office to secure the drop box to the ground and then begin accepting absentee ballots.”
Diny on Tuesday admitted to the Wausau Pilot & Review that he moved the drop box to his office on Sept. 22 and “took a few photos to memorialize the action.” Initially, he said the box “was relocated to a safe indoor location until certain issues that the clerk is aware of are addressed.” He also provided a photo.
Diny initially justified the action by saying constituents had told him during the mayoral campaign that they didn’t want dropboxes used to collect ballots; he later backtracked in an interview with local TV station WAOW.
“For all I know and for all anyone knows it could have been in the river, it was not bolted down,” Diny told WAOW. “If it would have been bolted down it would have been a completely different story if I would’ve unbolted it.”
In July, the Wisconsin Supreme Court held that municipal clerks are legally allowed to use secure drop boxes to collect ballots.
Bryna Godar, a staff attorney at the State Democracy Research Initiative at the University of Wisconsin, told Madison365 that the decision said “municipal clerks have broad discretion in how they administer elections, and … that municipal clerks have, within their discretion, the ability to use secure dropboxes as one of the methods of returning absentee ballots.”
She said the court did not define “secure,” but also did not give any other government officials authority to place or remove ballot dropboxes. She also said removing a dropbox with ballots inside would likely have been a crime.
Ballot dropboxes became controversial during and after the 2020 election, when the COVID-19 pandemic prompted local election officials to provide them as a means to return ballots safely, and Donald Trump subsequently alleged widespread fraud which changed the outcome of the election.
“Drop boxes can definitely be beneficial in enhancing people’s ability to return ballots, and that’s particularly true in rural areas where clerk offices might not be open for as many hours, or there might be fewer staff who can keep offices open to collect absentee ballots. They have, however, become a political flashpoint in recent years, and so they have also come now with some complications related to that,” Godar said. “But I think it’s important to note that drop boxes have not been found to benefit any political party, and actually can have quite a big impact in areas that are more rural, less urban, as well as the benefit in urban areas.”
Godar said there were no confirmed incidents of fraud related to drop boxes. Numerous investigations and court cases found no widespread fraud in any form.
Local leaders sharply criticized Diny, noting that limiting methods to vote could disproportionately impact marginalized communities.
“I have huge concerns about this behavior, as there is no place for elected officials to manage, alter or tamper with drop boxes, whether they agree with their use or not,” City Council President Lisa Rasmussen told Wausau Pilot. “I have voiced my concerns to the mayor about his conduct, and requested he return the box and issue a public apology to the clerk and the community, as his actions violate the public trust and likely also the law.”
“The federal government technically gave Native Americans the right to vote in 1924 with the Indian Citizenship Act, but it was many decades later before all States finally granted Indian people the right to vote,” said Tricia Zunker, an associate justice on the Ho-Chunk Nation Supreme Court and former Wausau School Board president. “Even today, 100 years after the passage of that federal law, there are still active effort throughout this country to suppress the Native right to vote. We have a strong Indigenous community here in Wausau, but removing the ballot box is just another attack on our right to vote, and it reduces accessibility for all citizens to participate in democratic elections. But it feels especially acute as an indigenous woman here in Wausau.”
“This act by Mayor Diny goes against the rules we have in a democracy where voters should be able to cast their vote freely and in an accessible manner,” said Yee Leng Xiong, a Marathon County Board member and candidate for State Assembly. “I join local leaders like City Council President Rasmussen in calling out this act and demand that the ballot box be returned to its proper location.”
Tuesday night a number of residents protested before the City Council meeting and several spoke out against Diny’s actions at the meeting.
No legal actions had been filed in court as of Friday morning.
