Wisconsin election officials abruptly canceled plans to send tens of thousands of voters two absentee ballots for the presidential primary, saying their new approach may violate state law but will avoid mass confusion.
The Wisconsin Elections Commission this month caused panic among clerks across the state when it told them a quirk in the law would require them to send two absentee ballots to 81,000 voters — but count only one of them.
All sides agreed the situation was ripe for confusion but some election officials contended they had little choice but to follow state law.
But the commissioners unanimously determined Wednesday they should send two ballots to a small subset of of those voters — several thousand who are overseas or in the military.
[This post has been updated.]