Reading Time: < 1 minute

Wisconsin Watch partners with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. Read our methodology to learn how we check claims.

No.

Only registered Wisconsin voters can use Wisconsin’s MyVote website to request absentee ballots by mail.

The Wisconsin Elections Commission told Wisconsin Watch that MyVote does not automatically send an absentee ballot to the requester. Requests generate an email to the requester’s municipal clerk, who determines whether the voter has provided information, including a photo ID, to receive an absentee ballot.

MyVote is the most common way Wisconsin voters request absentee ballots.

Wisconsin-based HOT Government, which alleged fraud in Wisconsin in the 2020 election, falsely claimed Nov. 2, 2024, that “anybody from around the world” can use MyVote to “illegally order absentee ballots for anyone and ship the ballots anywhere in the world.”

In 2022, the organization’s president Harry Wait was charged with four crimes for allegedly using MyVote to request absentee ballots for two Wisconsin elected officials be mailed to his Racine-area home. The case is pending.

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

Wisconsin Elections Commission: Vote absentee by mail

Google Docs: Wisconsin Elections Commission email 11/3/24

Wisconsin Elections Commission: How Wisconsin is Ready for the November 2024 Election

HOT Government: HOT Government

HOT Government: Wisconsin Election Fraud in 2020

X: HOT Government post

Wisconsin Justice Department: Union Grove Man Charged with Election Fraud

Wisconsin Circuit Court Access: Harry Wait case summary

Creative Commons License

Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.

Tom Kertscher joined Wisconsin Watch as a full-time reporter in October 2024. He started as a fact checker in January 2023 and contributes to our collaboration with the The Gigafact Project to fight misinformation online. Kertscher is a former longtime newspaper reporter, including at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. He is a contributing writer for Milwaukee Magazine and sports freelancer for The Associated Press.