How to Ask the Court to Restore Your Right to Vote Under Guardianship
Form that a person with a disability who is under guardianship can file to petition the court to get their right to vote back.
Restore Your Right to Vote Under Guardianship
If a Wisconsin court removed your right to vote when you were placed under guardianship, you may be able to ask the court to restore your voting rights.
The Ward’s Petition to Restore Ward’s Right to Register to Vote and to Vote is a court form that allows a person under guardianship to ask the court to restore their right to register and vote.
Who should use this form?
This form may be appropriate if:
You have a guardian of the person.
Your right to vote was taken away as part of your guardianship.
You have not had a court hearing about your guardianship within the last six months (180 days).
You are filing the petition for yourself.
If someone else is filing on your behalf, this is not the correct form. The instructions direct those individuals to use Form 2 instead.
What does the form ask the court to do?
By filing this petition, you are asking the court to hold a hearing and consider changing your guardianship order so that your right to register to vote and vote in elections can be restored.
The form also allows you to request that the court appoint an attorney to represent you at the county's expense if you cannot afford an attorney.
Before you file
Read the instructions included with the form carefully before completing it. Among other things, the instructions explain that:
You should not sign or date the petition ahead of time.
Your signature must be witnessed by a notary public or court official.
You may need the date of your original guardianship order. If you do not know it, the instructions recommend contacting the Register in Probate's office at the courthouse.
You should make copies of the completed, signed, and notarized petition before submitting it to the court.
