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Wisconsin election officers voted Friday to pressure Madison metropolis employees to take a seat for depositions as they attempt to study extra about how almost 200 absentee ballots in November’s election went uncounted.
The uncounted ballots within the state’s capital metropolis didn’t have an effect on any outcomes, however the Wisconsin Elections Fee nonetheless launched an investigation in January to find out whether or not Madison Metropolis Clerk Maribeth Witzel-Behl violated state legislation or abused her discretion. She didn’t notify the elections fee of the uncounted ballots till December, virtually a month and a half after the election and nicely after the outcomes have been licensed on Nov. 29.
Commissioners astounded at failure to depend ballots
The fee hasn’t decided but on whether or not Witzel-Behl acted illegally or improperly, however commissioners appeared flabbergasted on the failure to depend the ballots as they reviewed the investigation throughout a gathering Friday. Chair Ann Jacobs was significantly incensed with Witzel-Behl for not launching her personal in-depth probe instantly.
“This appears like a whole lack of management and a refusal to be the place the buck stops,” Jacobs stated. “You don’t get to place your head within the sand for weeks. … I’m genuinely shocked by this timeline.”
Don Millis stated it was a “travesty” that the ballots have been by no means counted. “You’re telling the world that these 193 folks didn’t vote in what many thought was probably the most consequential election of our lifetime,” he stated.
What did the fee resolve to do?
The fee voted unanimously to authorize Jacobs and Millis to query Madison metropolis workers in depositions — question-and-answer intervals often led by attorneys by which the topic provides sworn testimony. Jacobs stated she would talk to Millis about who to query, however Witzel-Behl will possible be one of many topics.
Madison metropolis lawyer Mike Haas, who was within the viewers, informed The Related Press outdoors the assembly that he wouldn’t combat the depositions. “The town needs to unravel this as a lot as anybody else,” he stated.
The fee additionally voted unanimously to ship a message to clerks across the state informing them of the issues in Madison and warning them to scour polling locations for any uncounted ballots in the course of the upcoming April 1 election. Jacobs stated she plans to name for extra substantial adjustments to state election coverage going into the 2026 elections after commissioners study extra about what occurred in Madison.
The investigation’s findings thus far
The town clerk’s workplace found 67 unprocessed absentee ballots in a courier bag that had been positioned in a safety cart on Nov. 12, the day election outcomes have been canvassed.
Witzel-Behl stated she informed two workers to inform the elections fee, however neither did. A 3rd worker visited the Dane County Clerk’s Workplace in particular person to tell officers there of the invention. That worker stated he didn’t bear in mind what the Dane County clerk stated, however he recalled a “basic sense” that the county wouldn’t need the ballots for the canvass.
The Dane County clerk, Scott McDonell, informed the fee that he knew nothing of the uncounted ballots till they have been reported within the media.
The clerk’s workplace found one other 125 uncounted absentee ballots in a sealed courier bag in a provide tote on Dec. 2. Witzel-Behl stated she didn’t inform county canvassers as a result of the canvass was completed and, based mostly on the county’s response to Nov. 12 discovery, she didn’t suppose the county would have an interest.
The elections fee wasn’t notified of both discovery till Dec. 18. Witzel-Behl stated the workers she requested to inform the fee waited till reconciliation was accomplished. Reconciliation is a routine course of by which ballot employees and elections officers guarantee an election’s accuracy, together with checking the variety of ballots issued on the polls to the variety of voters.
Holes in protocols
The investigators famous that Madison polling locations’ absentee poll logs didn’t record the variety of courier baggage for every ward, which might have informed election inspectors what number of baggage to account for whereas processing ballots.
Metropolis election officers additionally had no procedures for confirming the variety of absentee ballots obtained with the quantity counted. Witzel-Behl stated that info was emailed to election inspectors the weekend earlier than the election, however no paperwork offered the overall variety of ballots obtained.
If Witzel-Behl had regarded by means of every part to verify for courier baggage and absentee poll envelopes earlier than the election was licensed, the lacking ballots might have been counted, investigators stated.
Witzel-Behl additionally couldn’t clarify why she didn’t contact the county or the state elections fee herself, investigators stated.
Voters prep for lawsuit
4 Madison voters whose ballots weren’t counted filed claims Thursday for $175,000 every from town and Dane County, step one towards initiating a lawsuit.
Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit and nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletters to get our investigative tales and Friday information roundup. This story is printed in partnership with The Related Press.
