CEI sues Wisconsin over warning that election-contract trades could void a ballot

The Competitive Enterprise Institute has filed a federal lawsuit challenging Wisconsin’s warning that voters who trade election-related prediction-market contracts could lose their right to vote in the same contest. The case was brought for Joseph Giganti Sr., a Green Bay radio host who wants to buy Polymarket contracts and vote in Wisconsin’s Nov. 3 general election.

Giganti moved for a preliminary injunction before the election. The requested order would allow him to make the identified transactions and cast a ballot while the litigation continues, without the prospect of an eligibility challenge or voting-related enforcement.

CEI said it filed the suit on Oct. 17 after the Wisconsin Elections Commission issued guidance in July applying a state restriction to prediction-market trading. The commission’s position is that an otherwise qualified voter who has made a bet or wager on an election cannot legally vote in that election, and that a questioned ballot could be disqualified.

The guidance rests on a Wisconsin law enacted in 1849, according to CEI’s account of the dispute. The commission also warned that it could refer alleged violations to a district attorney for felony prosecution. Giganti says the prospect of losing his vote or facing prosecution has prevented him from participating in the markets.

His proposed purchases concern the Wisconsin gubernatorial contest and certain Wisconsin elections for the U.S. House of Representatives. He plans to vote in person, as he has in earlier elections.

The complaint argues that applying the restriction to Giganti would unjustifiably burden his right to vote. It also raises an equal-protection claim over the state’s treatment of other voters whose financial interests may be affected by election results, and a First Amendment claim that the intended transactions communicate his political views.

The suit further challenges the procedures that could be used if his ballot were questioned. Giganti alleges he may lack timely individual notice and a meaningful opportunity to contest the grounds for rejection before it becomes final.

Prediction markets trade event-contract derivatives whose prices can convey market estimates of an event’s probability. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission said in June that such markets have gained popularity as both a financial asset class and an information source; trading volume across CFTC-registered prediction markets exceeded $25 billion in 2025.

Wisconsin is also facing a separate federal lawsuit from the CFTC following the state’s lawsuits against five CFTC-regulated prediction markets, including Polymarket and Kalshi, under state law. The agency says Congress gave it exclusive jurisdiction over event contracts traded on designated contract markets.