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4 Wisconsin voters whose ballots weren’t counted within the November presidential election initiated a class-action lawsuit Thursday in search of $175,000 in damages every.
The voters had been amongst 193 in Madison whose ballots had been misplaced by the town clerk and never found till weeks after the election. Not counting the ballots didn’t have an effect on the results of any races.
The Wisconsin Elections Fee investigated however didn’t decide whether or not Madison Clerk Maribeth Witzel-Behl didn’t adjust to state regulation or abused her discretion.
She didn’t notify the elections fee of the issue till December, nearly a month and a half after the election and after the outcomes had been licensed on Nov. 29.
The purpose is to bolster and strengthen the proper to vote in Wisconsin, mentioned legal professional Jeff Mandell, who’s common counsel of Legislation Ahead, which filed claims towards the town of Madison and Dane County on Thursday.
“When individuals’s votes are usually not counted, when the proper to vote is violated, our democracy is diminished,” Mandell mentioned throughout a information convention saying the motion.
The 4 affected voters are in search of $175,000 every from the town of Madison and Dane County. That’s above the $50,000 most that may be sought in class-action lawsuits towards municipalities.
The lawsuit will argue that the cap is unconstitutional, the discover of declare mentioned.
The variety of affected voters who might be a part of the lawsuit may develop, Mandell mentioned. The entire voters whose ballots weren’t counted are named within the discover made public Thursday.
Madison takes election integrity severely, the town’s spokesperson, Dylan Brogan, mentioned in response. He famous that the clerk’s workplace apologized for the error each publicly and to every affected voter.
The clerk’s workplace has additionally taken steps to make sure the such a mistake gained’t occur once more and appeared ahead to extra steerage from the state elections fee, Brogan mentioned. He declined to remark particularly on the lawsuit.
The state elections fee is scheduled to debate its investigation into the uncounted ballots on Friday.
In line with a abstract of its findings, the clerk didn’t clarify what precisely occurred on the polling locations, how the uncounted ballots went unnoticed all day on Election Day or how they had been misplaced.
She additionally hasn’t mentioned whether or not she spoke to the chief inspectors within the affected wards to search out out what occurred, making it troublesome to develop pointers to assist election clerks all through the state keep away from comparable points, investigators mentioned.
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.
