State Orders Probe of Green Bay’s Duplicate Ballots

Green Bay City Hall is seen in this file photo. Source: City of Green Bay

The Green Bay City Clerk is on administrative leave, pending an internal review from the city and a state investigation into how her office issued duplicate ballots in two elections this year.

Green Bay Mayor Eric Genrich issued a statement Thursday afternoon, saying City Clerk Celestine Jeffreys had been placed on leave. It came the same day the Wisconsin Elections Commission voted unanimously to investigate how Green Bay issued duplicate ballots in both the April election and the August primary.

“Elections are a critical piece of the work we perform at the City,” Genrich stated. “While we have no concerns with the security or propriety of the electoral process, these errors in the Clerk’s Office are unacceptable.”

Genrich added that the city is working to “ensure these errors are never replicated” and would work “cooperatively” with the elections commission during its investigation.

Earlier that day, the commission voted to delay taking action against the city until a future meeting. In the meantime, the commission will investigate whether the city clerk or employees failed to comply with state law in the preparation and mailing of absentee ballots in the April and August elections.

As part of the same vote, the commission also directed the city clerk to submit a plan detailing how the city will ensure only one vote is counted for each person issued two ballots and submit a plan for how to prevent this in the future.

After the meeting, Republican Party of Wisconsin chair Brian Schimming issued a statement, calling the investigation a “necessary first step.”

“WEC must act decisively to identify the root causes, hold Clerk Jeffreys accountable, and implement safeguards so that this doesn’t happen a third time,” Schimming stated. “Voters deserve elections they can trust.”

In April, the Republican Party of Wisconsin filed a complaint against Jeffreys with the Wisconsin Elections Commission after the city issued two absentee ballots to 152 voters.

Then late last month, Green Bay issued duplicate ballots again, this time for the August primary election.

A review by elections commission staff found probable cause that Green Bay violated state law by issuing duplicate ballots for the spring election.

In filings 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.

Many of those who spoke to the commission about the issue said they were concerned about what they viewed as a pattern of errors when it comes to elections administration in Green Bay.

Nick Boerke, an attorney who worked on the complaint against Jeffreys, said he didn’t feel enough was being done to hold Jeffreys accountable for the errors. He said the commission should investigate both instances of duplicate ballots being mailed.

“The commission has a lot of tools at its disposal, including subpoena power,” he said. “I especially think that these two incidents should be merged together, and this should be taken very, very seriously.”

Former Brown County Clerk Sandy Juno, a Republican, said the repeated errors show the clerk “is not capable of holding that position.”

“My personal opinion, and being a clerk and in the clerk’s office for a number of years, is this is not a job that’s fit for this clerk,” Juno said of Jeffreys.

While Green Bay has been the target of much Republican scrutiny over its elections following false claims the election was stolen 2020, the state has found probable cause Jeffreys violated elections law before.

In one instance, she accepted absentee ballots from some voters without proof of disability. Another related to the city’s voter registration procedures.

Sam Liebert, Wisconsin director for voting rights organization All Voting is Local, defended Jeffreys over the duplicate ballot issue.

He told the Wisconsin Elections Commission that an “honest mistake” occurred and the city worked to ensure duplicate ballots did not result in duplicate votes.

“I would caution the commission against creating an expectation that clerks must be perfect 100 percent of the time or risk becoming the subject of highly publicized complaints and litigation,” Liebert said. “Wisconsin already faces significant challenges in recruiting and retaining qualified municipal clerks.”

But members of the elections commission raised concern because the duplicate ballot issue occurred in back-to-back elections.

Commissioner Ann Jacobs, a Democratic appointee, said she was “concerned” that the error occurred once, but called it “unconscionable” for it to happen a second time just weeks later.

“We need, I think, as an organization to investigate exactly what was going on in Green Bay, so we know how this error happened,” Jacobs said. “Any assurances we had after the first time it happened that it wouldn’t happen again are thin at this point.”

Commission chair Don Millis, a Republican appointee, said the commission needed to identify how the error occurred to prevent it from happening elsewhere in Wisconsin.

Jeffreys has until July 31 to submit a plan detailing its process for preventing voters from casting two ballots in the August primary, as well as provide detailed explanations of how duplicate ballots went out for two elections.

By Aug. 14, she must submit a plan to the commission that ensures the city’s absentee ballot process results in one ballot for each voter moving forward.

Green Bay city clerk on leave after state calls for investigation into duplicate ballots was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.