Election Integrity deniers often complain that Wisconsin has one of the more stringent voter ID laws in the country. That’s a good thing; the swing state Badger State has proved to be a cesspool of election integrity concerns in recent years.
But there’s a voter ID-related loophole cheaters can drive a semi truckload of fraud through. In Wisconsin, voters may claim “Indefinitely Confined” status, which allows them to receive an absentee ballot without presenting proof that they are who they claim to be. A new report, “Wisconsin’s Voter ID Loophole: The Continuing Problem of Indefinitely Confined Voters,” examines the election integrity pitfalls of the lax law.
“This raises a legitimate question about the potential for fraud” in November’s election, the report’s author, Will Flanders, research director at the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, told me in a recent interview.
‘Skip the Step’
Indefinitely confined status, perhaps not surprisingly, exploded in the 2020 election amid the Covid panic. Under Wisconsin law, the elderly, individuals with a physical illness or infirmity, or those disabled for “an indefinite period” may sign a statement allowing them to receive an automatic absentee ballot for every election. It’s an honor system provision, with no verification and no investigation required. Applicants simply decide whether they fit the indefinitely confined requirements to receive an absentee ballot — without having to show a photo ID.
In 2020, just as Covid was hitting and Democrat Gov. Tony Evers was locking down the state, election officials in Wisconsin’s two largest
