Wisconsin’s liberal-majority Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that a conservative voter-integrity group cannot access guardianship records that could identify voters legally barred from casting ballots, dealing a setback to election transparency efforts in one of the nation’s most contested swing states.
The court’s 5-2 ruling rejected a request by Ron Heuer and the Wisconsin Voter Alliance, who argued that county records identifying individuals deemed incompetent to vote should be cross-referenced with the state’s voter registration rolls to find ineligible names.
“The Alliance has no right to the records,” Justice Janet Protasiewicz wrote for the majority.
The Wisconsin Voter Alliance filed lawsuits in 13 counties in 2022 after arguing that the number of individuals stripped of voting rights under guardianship orders did not match discrepancies on the state’s registration list. Under Wisconsin law, a court can remove a person’s right to vote if they are found unable to understand the objective of the election process.
The group’s attorney, Erick Kaardal, had argued that identifying information could be redacted to balance privacy concerns against the public’s right to verify election rolls. Attorneys for Walworth County pushed back, saying the cross-referencing purpose required names and addresses.
The two conservative justices on the court, Annette Ziegler and Rebecca Bradley, dissented. They accused the majority of adopting “an overbroad and unworkable definition” of which records are tied to incompetency findings, arguing the relevant forms are subject to open records law.
The case exposed a direct split between competing state appeals courts. A Madison-based court had previously denied record access. A Waukesha-based court ruled in 2023 that the records should be released with limited redactions. The Supreme Court overturned that order.
The ruling comes as both parties prepare for what is expected to be another razor-thin presidential contest in Wisconsin in 2028. The state’s Supreme Court has a 4-3 liberal majority, a balance that flipped in 2023 after Justice Protasiewicz was elected on a campaign that heavily featured abortion rights and redistricting issues.
