Opinion ID: 2614688
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Delivery of Absentee Ballots by Third Person.

Text: The trial court voided the ballots of Mr. and Mrs. Natividad Sanchez because their ballots were not delivered personally to the County Clerk by the voters or by mail. They were taken to the Clerk's office by Clory Aragon who was advised by the County Clerk to mail the ballots, which he did. The trial court found that the possession of the ballots by Aragon invalidated the Sanchez' votes. Although the trial court found that his possession was not intended to be for the purpose of influencing their votes, but rather was for the Sanchez' convenience, and that he had no knowledge of the alleged illegality of the act, the votes were still void. Section 1-6-5 details the manner in which applications are to be processed, ballots are to be issued and voters are to cast their ballots in person in the Clerk's office. Subsection (F) states the manner in which the absentee ballots are to be mailed to people outside of the continental limits of the United States. Subsection (G) spells out the requirements for applicants domiciled inside the continental limits of the country. Subsection (H) provides as follows: [n]o absentee ballot shall be delivered or mailed to any person other than the applicant for such a ballot. It seems clear that within the context of this whole section subsection (H) is applicable to the delivery or mailing of ballots to potential voters by the County Clerk. Construing this subsection, as Atwood attempts to do, to cover delivery of the completed ballots back to the Clerk is not reasonable. This view is reinforced by the logical arrangement of the provisions of the statutes, thus: Section 1-6-6: Absentee ballot register; Section 1-6-7: Form of absentee ballot; Section 1-6-8: Absentee ballot envelopes; Section 1-6-9: Manner of voting; Section 1-6-10: Receipt of absentee ballots by clerk. Regarding the return of completed ballots by absentee voters, Section 1-6-9 states that [v]oters shall either deliver or mail the official outer envelope to the county clerk of their county of residence. This section also covers overseas citizen voters and others voting from outside the state, and provides that they may deliver the ballots or mail them. No mandatory requirement of personal delivery of the completed ballots, as opposed to having a third party perform the task, can be read into this statute. To require that only United States mail-handlers and the County Clerk can touch the completed ballot after it leaves the hands of the voter would be tantamount to disenfranchising all overseas voters since there would be persons other than the United States mailmen or County Clerk who would handle the documents. It is not a sensible proposition to hold that a legal voter who has properly completed his ballot and sealed it cannot have it delivered by his agent to the County Clerk's office. In Lanser v. Koconis, 62 Wis.2d 86, 214 N.W.2d 425 (1974), an election was challenged because the City Clerk did not mail the absentee ballots to the electors or deliver them personally as provided by the statute. That Court held that the record did not indicate the slightest evidence of fraud, connivance or attempted undue influence and refused to invalidate the votes. That opinion quoted generously from Sommerfeld v. Board of Canvassers, supra , which dealt with the mailing of completed ballots by absentee voters, as here. The statute in Sommerfeld provided that the ballot be mailed or if more convenient it may be delivered in person. The Sommerfeld Court held that the complaint as to the delivery of the ballots by an agent was purely technical, that delivery by the agent was substantial compliance with the spirit of the election laws, and that the statute was directory only. We hold that delivery of the completed ballots by an agent of the voters to the County Clerk's office, standing alone, is not a sufficient deviation from the provisions of the absentee voter laws to void the votes in question. We reverse the trial court on this issue.