State Review Finds Probable Cause Green Bay Broke Election Law
Elections officials say duplicate absentee ballots to 152 voters likely violated state rules.
Green Bay City Hall is seen in this file photo. Source: City of Green Bay
Wisconsin Elections Commission staff believe there is evidence that Green Bay violated state law when the city mailed duplicate ballots to more than 150 voters ahead of the spring election.
That’s according to a draft of the finding from the commission’s review of the situation. The draft findings and order were included in materials for the Wisconsin Elections Commission’s upcoming July 9 meeting, where commissioners are scheduled to discuss and potentially take action.
That comes less than a week after Green Bay said it may have issued duplicate ballots again, this time in some voting wards for the August primary election.
In April, the Republican Party of Wisconsin filed a complaint against Green Bay City Clerk Celestine Jeffreys with the Wisconsin Elections Commission after the city issued two absentee ballots to 152 voters.
In a statement issued earlier this week after Green Bay sent duplicate ballots in a second election, state GOP spokesperson Anika Rickard said Green Bay voters “deserve reliable elections, not repeated failures that undermine trust.”
“WEC must hold the clerk accountable, investigate, and ensure these issues are fixed before November,” Rickard said. “One voter, one ballot. Wisconsin law demands nothing less.”
Green Bay responded to the complaint in a filing with the elections commission. The city argued no violation of state elections law occurred in April because no absentee ballot was counted more than once.
However, the Wisconsin Elections Commission’s review and analysis found “probable cause to believe that a violation of” state law “occurred regarding the issuance of duplicate ballots” for the spring election, according to the draft document.
“At no time should there be two identical ‘live’ ballots issued to the same elector,” the commission’s draft reads.
When asked about the elections commission’s finding, a spokesperson for the city said Green Bay would “not be speaking or issuing any statements at this time.”
While the elections commission agreed with the city’s argument that it is the clerk’s duty to prevent double voting, it disagreed that that’s “the only relevant duty concerning these allegations.”
“Multiple checks and redundancies exist within the election administration system to prevent duplicate ballots from being either issued or counted,” the commission’s analysis read. “Clerks are required to track each request made, each ballot issued, each ballot returned, and each ballot counted.”
Despite the duplicate ballot issue, the commission found that the city did appear to properly carry out “procedures to track, review, record, and, on Election Day, count valid returned absentee ballots.”
The commission’s meeting materials include a draft order that would require Jeffreys to “conform conduct to the law and only issue one ballot per election to each voter unless there is a specific valid reason.”
The city could also be ordered to create procedures to prevent duplicate ballots from being issued in the future, and to continue maintaining proper chains of custody to ensure each voter only votes once.
Wisconsin Elections Commission review finds probable cause Green Bay violated elections law was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.
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