Celestine Jeffreys. PC: Fox 11 Online
(WTAQ-WLUK) — The Wisconsin Elections Commission voted Monday morning to conclude its investigation into Green Bay issuing duplicate ballots for two recent elections, but it will wait to decide whether former Clerk Celestine Jeffreys violated the law.
However, WEC staff has previously stated there was probable cause Jeffreys violated the law by sending out 152 duplicate ballots for the April election. That recommendation was made before the WEC was aware of a second instance of duplicate ballots being issued ahead of the August primary election.
WEC staff believes Green Bay has provided as much information as it can for why duplicate absentee ballots were sent.
“In both cases it seems the common contributing factor was an individual making decisions about reprinting labels without checking any procedures or processes to ensure that duplication would not occur,” said Angela O’Brien Sharpe, WEC attorney supervisor.
That individual was former Clerk Celestine Jeffreys, according to documents the city provided the WEC.
As part of the WEC investigation, Green Bay admitted it is “reasonably certain 244 regular absentee voters received a duplicate ballot, however, print data reveals up to 390 regular absentee ballot labels may have been reprinted” for the August primary.
In the future, the city plans to involve a second person if the city clerk or deputy clerk believes absentee ballot labels need to be reprinted.
“It appears the intent there is to reduce the circumstances from when someone makes a mistake by getting a second person involved to confirm that reprinting is necessary and that no duplications are being created,” said O’Brien Sharpe.
“We learned what happened,” said Ann Jacobs, a Wisconsin Elections commissioner. “They put new processes in place, which I think was our concern about it happening the second time.”
The six-member, bipartisan, commission voted to conclude the investigation. However, it wants WEC staff to make a recommendation before voting on whether Jeffreys violated the law.
“I guess my inclination is that a minimum, especially with the second occurrence, there was an abuse of discretion,” said Don Millis, chair for the commission.
WEC staff will draft a recommendation for both duplicate ballot incidents, with the commission voting on it at a future meeting.
Jeffreys was put on administrative leave the same day the WEC ordered its investigation. She resigned a month later –- after the city blamed her for the duplicate ballot issues.
The city has said only one ballot per eligible voter was counted in each election where duplicate absentee ballots were sent.
A city spokesperson says the city has no comment on the commission’s decision to conclude the investigation.
The Center for Election Confidence issued a statement about the decision:
Today’s decision by the Wisconsin Elections Commission to prematurely end its investigation into Green Bay’s unprecedented twice-in-three-months ‘extra ballots’ crisis is disappointing. While welcomed, the resignation of the official in charge when these mistakes occurred is not sufficient.
The ‘extra ballots’ crisis in Green Bay has on-going impact and represents more than a minor technical matter. City officials sent out a still-unknown number of ‘extra’ live ballots and claimed to implement an undisclosed process to prevent any ‘extra’ ballots from counting. None of this has been independently verified.
Despite Green Bay’s promise to voters that the underlying issue had been resolved, it happened a second time only three months later. Now, Green Bay has again offered—and WEC has accepted—an unverified promise that this issue won’t happen again.
For Green Bay voters to have confidence in the stability, accuracy, and integrity of their election system, a WEC investigation needs to encompass more than a handful of informal emails and letters. The complete, independent development and verification of the factual record and the continued oversight over process-improvement activities are required to ensure these issues are not repeated a third time in Green Bay.
“Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.’ Ignoring a problem does not make it go away.
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