MADISON, Wis. — Nearly 200 mail-in ballots went uncounted in Wisconsin’s liberal capital following the Nov. 5 election, prompting state election officers to launch an investigation Thursday into whether or not the town clerk broke the legislation.
The Wisconsin Elections Commission voted unanimously to research whether or not Madison City Clerk Maribeth Witzel-Behl didn’t adjust to state legislation or abused her discretion. Commission members mentioned they had been involved as a result of the clerk’s workplace didn’t inform them of the issue till late December, almost a month and a half after the election. Commission Chair Ann Jacobs licensed Wisconsin’s election outcomes on Nov. 29.
Witzel-Behl’s workplace mentioned in an announcement that the variety of uncounted votes didn’t have an effect on the end result of any races or referendums on the ballots. But Jacobs mentioned the oversight was “so critical” that the fee should decide what occurred and the way it may be prevented because the spring election approaches.
“We are the last word movers,” Jacobs mentioned. “We are the ultimate arbiters of votes within the state of Wisconsin and we have to know why these ballots weren’t included anyplace.”
Witzel-Behl mentioned in an electronic mail to The Associated Press that her workplace seems ahead to working with the fee to find out what occurred and learn how to stop the identical issues in future elections.
It’s one other misstep for Witzel-Behl, who introduced in September that her workplace had mistakenly despatched out as many as 2,000 duplicate ballots. He blamed it on an information processing error.
According to Election Commission paperwork, the fee turned conscious of the uncounted ballots on Dec. 18, when Witzel-Behl workers advised the fee that they had recorded extra absentee ballots acquired than ballots counted in three metropolis precincts.
The fee requested Witzel-Behl to offer an in depth assertion, which he did two days later. The memo acknowledged that on Nov. 12 the clerk’s workplace found 67 unprocessed ballots for District 65 and one unprocessed poll for District 68 in a courier bag present in a vote tabulation machine.
The memo additionally acknowledged that his workplace was reconciling ballots for District 56 on Dec. 3, when 125 uncooked ballots had been found in a sealed mail provider envelope. Reconciliation is a post-election course of by which officers account for each poll created. This work begins instantly after the elections. Employees have 45 days to finish it.
The memo supplied no clarification, saying solely that the clerk’s workplace deliberate to “debrief these incidents and implement higher processes.”
The clerk’s workplace launched an announcement on December 26 saying it had knowledgeable the election fee and would ship a letter of apology to every affected voter.
Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway launched his personal assertion the identical day saying the chancellor’s workplace didn’t inform his workers of the difficulty till December 20. He mentioned his workplace plans to overview the town’s election procedures. The mayor launched a brand new assertion Thursday saying he appreciates the Election Commission’s investigation and that the town will cooperate with the investigation.
Wisconsin is a perennial battleground state in presidential elections. Republican Donald Trump received the state final November in his bid to regain the White House, beating Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris by about 29,000 votes.
Madison and surrounding Dane County are well-known liberal strongholds. Harris received 75% of the vote within the county in November.
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