COVID-Related Election Litigation Tracker

Case Details

This database consolidates and tracks litigation concerning the effect of the pandemic on election law. The purpose of this tool is to provide an interactive list of relevant cases that can be searched by issue, court, status, and jurisdiction.

Case Details

 

Swenson v. Bostelmann

Closed

Swenson v. Bostelmann, No. 3:20-cv-00459 (W.D. Wis.)

  Case Summary Action by group of citizens alleging denial of right to vote in 4/7/20 Wisconsin Presidential Primary and Spring Election. Complaint seeks damages and injunctive and declaratory relief to establish reasonable, disability accessible, and constitutionally sufficient voting procedures (including mail voting) for future 2020 elections. Complaint alleges that failure to reschedule the Spring Election due to Covid-19 health risks violated their rights under 1st and 14th Amendments, Voting Rights Act, and ADA.
Filed 05/18/2020
State Wisconsin
Type of Court Federal
Circuit Seventh Circuit
Status Closed
Last Updated 02/18/2021
Issue Tag(s) Vote-by-Mail (Failure to Allow No-Excuse Vote by Mail, Failure to Mail Ballots w/out Application to All Registered Voters, Failure to Provide Vote-by-Mail Accommodations for Voters with Disabilities, Failure to Include ID/Documentation)
In-Person Voting COVID Concern (Lack of Safety Measures for In-Person Voting, Number/Location of Polling Places)
Online Voting
System adequacy to handle volume; Inadquate description of VBM eligibility requirements; failure to allow absentee ballots replacement requests online; residence requirement for election workers
Complaint(s) 05/18/2020: Complaint filed.
06/23/2020: Complaint filed.
Dispositive Ruling(s) 09/21/2020: Order/Ruling, In an order without an opinion, the court granted the planitiffs' requested preliminary injunction. The court extended the deadline for voter registration, directed the state to include more information defining the term "indefinitely confined", extended the deadline by which the state could receive and count absentee ballots, allowed voters to request replacement absentee ballots online or via email, and ordered the state to allow election workers to live in a different county than the one in which they worked.
Creative Commons License  Covid-Related Election Litigation Tracker by the Stanford-MIT Healthy Elections Project – Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.