Wausau Mayor Cleared in Ballot Drop Box Investigation

More than a year and a half after Wausau Mayor Doug Diny moved an unsecured ballot drop box inside City Hall, prosecutors have closed the case without filing charges.

Fond du Lac County District Attorney Eric Toney announced this week that a bipartisan review found there was not enough evidence to prove any criminal violation beyond a reasonable doubt.

The case dates back to the weekend before the 2024 presidential election, when a municipal absentee ballot drop box was placed outside Wausau City Hall. City Clerk Kaitlyn Bernarde had intended for the box to be secured to the sidewalk and opened for voters to return absentee ballots.Instead, the box remained outside and unsecured over the weekend. Diny later wheeled the locked drop box into City Hall, saying he believed it could have been taken or tampered with if it remained outside. The Mayor’s action quickly drew criticism from some residents and election observers, who argued that removing the box may have violated state election law.

Toney said the review focused solely on the evidence and the law, and not on the political controversy surrounding the case. He emphasized that the decision was based on a lack of proof that any criminal law had been violated. Former Door County District Attorney Joan Korb, a Democrat, assisted in the review alongside Toney, a Republican. Assistant District Attorney Kennedy Cutts also participated.

The criminal review is the final legal proceeding connected to the incident.

The issue had previously been investigated by the Wausau Ethics Board. The board concluded Diny violated the city’s ethics code, but it did not impose a penalty. Instead, it directed him to comply with the city’s ethics rules in the future.