Cleek’s law is a harsh mistress

It is not surprising that a Wisconsin judge would rule against the legality of dropboxes. The remarkable thing is how recently this became Republican orthodoxy:

While drop boxes have become one of many flashpoints following the November 2020 presidential election, there was a time in the not-too-distant past when they weren’t considered controversial.

For example, a Sept. 25, 2020, letter from an attorney for Republican legislative leaders explicitly endorsed the use of drop boxes.

“We wholeheartedly support voters’ use of any of these convenient, secure, and expressly authorized absentee-ballot-return methods,” wrote attorney Misha Tseytlin representing Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and then-Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald.

Personality cults are, above all else, deeply weird.

I’m still amazed that one day, because he’s an idiot, Donald Trump decided that putting your ballot in a mailbox is fine but putting it in a drop box is a conspiracy of the libs, Republicans immediately decided it must be true, and they continue to believe it to this day https://t.co/aHoTwL5uST— Paul Waldman (@paulwaldman1) January 14, 2022