The City of Madison announced Wednesday that ballot boxes banned early this year will be covered with voting rights artwork.
The art by New York-based artist Jenny Holzer features the quote, “Truth is powerful and will prevail,” by Sojourner Truth, a runaway slave famous for her speeches on feminism and abolition.
The City of Madison has previously featured Holzer’s art in 2020’s YOUVOTE campaign, which utilized quotes from other female activists. The installation follows Holzer’s style of bold text overlaid on monochromatic colors.
Ballot boxes, which allow voters to conveniently drop off mail-in ballots at designated spots around the city, were banned after a July decision by the Wisconsin Supreme Court, according to an email from the Madison City Clerk’s Office. In the November 2020 election, 10,188 ballots were returned in Madison via this method.
Under Wisconsin law, absentee ballots are required to be mailed by the elector to a municipal clerk.
“An inanimate object, such as a ballot drop box, cannot be the municipal clerk,” according to the majority opinion written by Justice Rebecca Bradley.
Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway has consistently defended ballot boxes, claiming they are secure and allow for easy and safe voting.
“This court decision is one in a long line of decisions that negatively impacts voters in Wisconsin,” Rhodes-Conway said in a recent press release. “Unfortunately, it disproportionately impacts voters with disabilities and voters of color in cities, including Madison.”
Representative Lisa Subeck, D-Madison, echoed the mayor’s sentiments and added that the drop boxes provided a safe and secure option for individuals who were uncomfortable mailing their ballots, did not have enough lead time to mail their ballot or may be relying on someone else to help them.
Previous art installations by Holzer include an LED truck displaying messages protesting gun violence and a two-decade long series of projections of poems on buildings across the world.
“Ultimately, I think the artwork is an opportunity to make a statement, and in Madison we make strong statements,” Subeck said. “I think this is exactly the type of statement we should be making.”
The first ballot box artwork has already been unveiled at Fire Station 1 on 316 West Dayton Street.
