The proliferation in local police department’s use of surveillance technology, which in most places has occurred without any community input or control, presents significant threats to civil rights and civil liberties that disproportionately impact communities of color and low-income communities.

Here is a list of costly and invasive surveillance technologies that might be recording you, your family, and your neighbors right now.

The nationwide Community Control Over Police Surveillance (CCOPS) effort is looking to increase transparency through legislation mandating that local communities are given a meaningful opportunity to review and participate in all decisions about if and how surveillance technologies are acquired and used locally.

Milwaukee deserves to know how the police are surveilling us. Milwaukee needs CCOPS.

Ballot drop boxes are a safe, secure, and convenient way to vote, providing a solution for voters who need it the most. Now, Wisconsin's highest court has an opportunity to restore this accessible voting option.

On May 13, 2024, the Supreme Court of Wisconsin heard oral arguments to decide whether or not to uphold its interpretation in 2022 that barred the use of ballot drop boxes. Throughout the day, the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign held press conferences in Madison, Milwaukee, Green Bay, Eau Claire, and Wausau to rally supporters and demand that the court restore ballot drop boxes to our state.

We joined the #OurVoteOurBallotBox movement at the events in both Madison and Milwaukee. Campaign and Political Manager Conor Miller and Deputy Advocacy Director James Stein addressed the press.

Stein was quoted in the CBS 58 news coverage of the event:

In Milwaukee, organizations united and voiced their concerns, sending a clear message to the Wisconsin Supreme Court: Drop boxes are essential to making voting accessible.

"For rural voters who have to drive far and wide across Wisconsin on Election Day, for people in large cities who have limited ballot return options," said James Stein, Deputy Advocacy Director at ACLU of Wisconsin.

Drop boxes have proven to be an accessible, secure, and easy way for voters across the country to cast their ballots, and they have been widely used by people of all backgrounds and political affiliations without issue. In 2020, more voters returned their ballots at a drop box than ever before, helping spur record-breaking voter turnout in Wisconsin.

We hope that the Wisconsin Supreme Court rules in favor of expanding voting access by overturning the current drop box ban.