Absentee ballots are ready to be sent to Wisconsin voters. PC: Fox 11 Online
GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — This week, the Wisconsin Elections Commission will discuss the most recent incident of duplicate absentee ballots being sent out in Green Bay as it also considers a previous complaint for an initial case.
When a member of the Republican Party of Brown County filed a complaint in April about Green Bay City Clerk Celestine Jeffreys’ office sending out 152 duplicate absentee ballots, a warning was given it would happen again without proper corrective action. This week, the city confirmed it has happened again, with a yet to be disclosed number of duplicate ballots being sent out for next month’s primary election.
“WEC absolutely has to take action in terms of investigating the office, figuring out what’s going on there and potentially removing the clerk,” said Doug Reich, the chair of the Republican Party of Brown County.
The Wisconsin Elections Commission, or WEC, was planning to take up the initial instance at its quarterly meeting before learning of the second instance.
At the urging of Brown County Republicans, the commission will now discuss the second instance at its meeting next Thursday, which also includes public comment.
WEC staff put together a six-page letter about the initial complaint, which states the commission finds probable cause to believe a violation of state law occurred in sending duplicate ballots for the Spring Election.
“The Commission orders the Respondent (Jeffreys) to put procedures in place that would prevent duplicate ballots from being issued and sent to voters, and to describe those procedures in a letter to the Commission, which may be sent by email, by July 24,” reads the letter from WEC staff.
Whether that recommendation will be finalized or other action is decided is up to WEC’s six commissioners at the July 9 meeting. Three commissioners are Democrat appointed and three are Republican appointed.
City officials continue to refuse interviews on this issue, at the advice of the city’s attorneys. It is currently unclear how many duplicate ballots were sent out, what’s being done to prevent this from happening again, and if the mayor will consider removing Jeffreys from her position.
“We haven’t heard anything,” said Reich. “It’s been radio silent.”
Reich says it’s a concern that there are duplicate ballots, even if they’re not being counted.
“First of all, it’s a violation of the law,” said Reich. “Secondly, we don’t know that they’re not being counted.”
In a statement, Jeffreys has said “I assure our voters only one ballot per eligible voter will be tabulated.”
“Making an excuse that no harm was done isn’t an excuse for violating the law,” said Reich. “It also erodes confidence from the public.”
The WEC staff letter orders Jeffreys to continue to maintain a complete chain of custody for all ballots issued.
In the past four years, this is the third time WEC’s staff has determined probable cause Jeffreys violated the law. The previous times were for accepting an absentee ballot on behalf of a sick person who didn’t have proper disability authorization. The other was for not following Election Day Registration procedures.
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