GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) — Green Bay’s city attorney is trying to explain the city’s actions after absentee ballots were counted hours ahead of the starting time posted on notices given to poll watchers and the public.
City clerk staff reportedly counted absentee ballots for Tuesday’s spring primary before 9 am after posting that they wouldn’t do so until 4 pm. Officials from the office of Green Bay Mayor Eric Genrich says that was due to a typo.
Interim City Attorney Joanne Bungert says the city did what it was supposed to do when the error was discovered.
“The time prescribed for counting is actually set through statute and that was the indication that the Wisconsin Elections Commission gave to the clerk and indicated it was within the clerk’s discretion to continue counting,” said Bungert. “Also as part of the decision making process, there is also obviously a job that needs to get done, which is counting the ballots and having a total count in the evening with a reasonable amount of time.”
It’s still unclear if what Green Bay did is legal. Fox 11 reacted out to the Wisconsin Elections Commission.
“The Wisconsin Elections Commission had no role in authorizing the city of Green Bay’s decision regarding what time to process absentee ballots,” reads a statement from the WEC. “The WEC told city of Green Bay officials on Election Day they should work with their attorneys on whether their meeting notice was sufficient.”
A WEC official also wouldn’t say whether it was legal for Green Bay to count ballots ahead of the publicly noticed time.
The city stopped counting again in the afternoon after the Republican Party of Wisconsin sent Green Bay a cease-and-desist letter.
Bungert could not tell FOX 11 how many absentee ballots were counted before 4 p.m.
“There isn’t an available process or procedure to track that,” said Bungert. “Ballots aren’t timestamped as they’re being counted per the clerk.”
Matt Roeser, an election observer, says there were more than 900 ballots counted before the city initially stopped counting ballots.
12 members of the public showed up to central count on Tuesday to observe absentee ballots being counted.
Alderman Chris Wery cast doubt on the city’s narrative that the mistake was due to a typo.
“One of the two parties that was wanting to be there all day to observe was told on multiple occasions that it would be at 4pm, verbally, by the clerk. So it wasn’t a simple typo,” said Wery.
