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It’s too quickly to definitively say whether or not Madison’s April 1 election went off with none issues. However metropolis and county election officers informed Votebeat that they have been assured that new absentee poll procedures put in place after 193 ballots went uncounted in November would stop one other main error.
Tuesday was the primary high-profile election in Madison because the snafu in November, when 193 ballots in unopened poll luggage from two polling stations went uncounted through the presidential contest. Workers didn’t uncover the ballots till a lot later, a essential lapse that prompted state and metropolis investigations and the suspension of Madison Clerk Maribeth Witzel-Behl in March. A voter lawsuit is anticipated.
Witzel-Behl’s substitute is Metropolis Lawyer Mike Haas, previously the Wisconsin Elections Fee administrator and a longtime election lawyer. This was the primary election he has ever run as a municipal clerk.
Amid the investigation, metropolis officers applied new procedures to raised monitor absentee ballots and be certain that oversights are detected earlier than outcomes are finalized.
New procedures add to the paperwork
The adjustments have been obvious at Madison polling locations, which had a number of new checklists and required paperwork to make sure that officers opened and processed each bag containing absentee ballots. They have been additionally obvious on the clerk’s workplace, the place at 9 p.m., staff had begun trying by way of election supplies from every of town’s 108 polling websites to verify there weren’t any lacking ballots.
At Madison West Excessive College, the place 68 of the ballots went lacking in November, chief inspector Peter Quinn stated simply earlier than 4 p.m. that the brand new procedures make a repeat error “mainly unattainable.”
Quinn has been a chief inspector earlier than, however he wasn’t the chief inspector on the college in November when the ballots went lacking.
“It’s a mistake that ought to not have been made,” Quinn stated in regards to the error, including that the brand new procedures make it simpler to catch discrepancies.
Every polling website now receives up to date lists all through the day detailing each absentee poll bag delivered. Every bag is recognized by a seal quantity. Election officers test off one clean on that checklist after they open every bag and one other clean after they course of the ballots. This fashion, election officers know what number of service envelopes they obtain — and what number of they’re speculated to rely.
Ballot employees additionally document the variety of ballots in every bag on two separate paperwork and, on the finish of the night time, full a abstract sheet confirming that the variety of absentee ballots obtained matches the quantity counted or rejected.
Kevin Kennedy, former state elections chief and now a chief inspector at Madison’s Senior Middle, known as the brand new course of “good documentation” — however stated it may be overwhelming.
“My downside,” he stated at 2 p.m., standing in entrance of the desk the place absentee ballots get processed, “is that there’s so many issues to maintain monitor of right here.”
Kennedy pointed to an absentee poll processing information given to ballot employees and stated he wished the clerk’s workplace offered equally clear directions for navigating the added procedures. Whereas he believes the system is now much less susceptible to error, he warned that paperwork redundancies can decelerate the method.
Procedures nonetheless have to be refined
A half-mile away, Sam Peplinski, 19, stood outdoors the Nicholas Recreation Middle polling place — the identical website the place his absentee poll went uncounted in November.
“It was my first time voting,” he stated of the expertise, which shook his belief in elections. “It was simply surprising.”
He stated it’s unrealistic to anticipate perfection, however the lack of almost 200 ballots made the difficulty “giant sufficient to not be ignored.”
This time he voted on the polls on Election Day — however solely as a result of he only recently realized of the election date. “An unintended profit,” he stated.
On the finish of the night time, Haas, the interim metropolis clerk, informed Votebeat the brand new procedures may need been somewhat “overkill,” however stated after the November snafu it’s higher to have an excessive amount of paperwork than too little.
Witzel-Behl, town clerk on go away, put in place most of the new procedures between November and February, and extra have been added since then, however Haas stated there wasn’t a lot time to get suggestions on these procedures from town’s ballot employees.
“I feel we simply want extra time to refine these, ensure that they’re workable for the inspectors,” he stated.
Deputy Clerk Bonnie Chang informed Votebeat that employees would spend Wednesday and Thursday trying by way of all of the election supplies that polling locations return to the clerk’s workplace, ensuring there aren’t any lacking ballots there. They have been additionally checking a brand new sheet that every polling website’s chief inspector fills out to verify the variety of ballots processed is the same as the variety of ballots obtained.
Alexander Shur is a reporter for Votebeat based mostly in Wisconsin. Contact Shur at ashur@votebeat.org.
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