Absentee ballots are ready to be sent to Wisconsin voters. PC: Fox 11 Online
GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — “No harm, no foul” sums up Green Bay’s response to a complaint about duplicate absentee ballots being inadvertently sent out for the April 7 election.
Before the spring election, 152 absentee voters received multiple ballots due to an administrative error. The city notified those voters and took steps to make sure no person voted twice.
Theresa Sipes and the Republican Party of Wisconsin filed a complaint April 6 with the Wisconsin Elections Commission, seeking an investigation and remedial action.
Green Bay’s formal response to the WEC was filed late Thursday. It called the complaint “moot” and said the city followed all appropriate steps after the error was discovered. The city says the complaint should be dismissed.
“This is the result of Clerk Jeffreys working to identify the issue, coordinating messaging to provide notice to the impacted voters and following established Wisconsin election laws in addition to Wisconsin Elections Commissions manuals and guidance to ensure that one ballot per eligible voter was tabulated. Given the fact that the Spring Election is over, and the fact that only one ballot per eligible voter was tabulated, there is no live controversy and a majority of the relief sought by the complainant would have no practical effect. Therefore, the issue before this Commission today is moot, and this complaint should be dismissed in its entirety,” wrote attorney Logan Wood.
The city followed the WEC’s guidance in the case, it says.
“It is with this guidance that Clerk Jeffreys — upon discovering that 152 out of 6,467 total absentee ballot requesters received a duplicate ballot — notified each of the 152 voters in writing about the error and the appropriate next steps. These efforts ultimately resulted in zero duplicate absentee ballots being tabulated more than once.
The city says it is taking steps to make sure this doesn’t happen again.
“In order to help prevent this situation from occurring again, the Clerk’s office is enhancing protocols to ensure that all printed certificate labels documents are clearly marked to identify date of printing and date of completion. Additionally, the Clerk’s office is exploring technological upgrades to help improve efficiency in printing certificate labels for absentee ballots,” the response states.
“Because no absentee ballot was tabulated more than once, no violation of Wisconsin election laws occurred. For the reasons stated in this response, this complaint should be dismissed in its entirety,” Wood wrote.
The Wisconsin Election Commission has not yet placed the item on an agenda for discussion.
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