Absentee ballots are ready to be sent to Wisconsin voters. PC: Fox 11 Online
GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — More concerns over election integrity in Green Bay.
It comes after the city of Green Bay inadvertently sent out duplicate ballots for the second time in about two months.
The city has assured the community that only one ballot per voter will be counted.
A number of voters from eight different wards including 11a, 12a, 37a, 44-47 and part of ward 43 in Green Bay received duplicate absentee ballots ahead of the August primary.
It’s unclear how many, but the error is causing frustration and concern about possible flaws in the city’s election process.
“I’ve gotten phone calls, I’ve gotten emails, I see that there’s a lot of chatter online about it, people are upset. They want to know that they can trust the results of the election,” Green Bay Ald. Melinda Eck said.
Eck said even if sending out double ballots was an accident, it still opens up the door for the possibility of election fraud.
Duplicate ballots were sent out by the city of Green Bay to 152 voters this past April, too.
City Clerk Celestine Jeffreys said in a statement:
Our voters deserve clear, accurate and reliable election administration—these are the standards the city sets and that I set for my office. I regret the printing error occurred. I assure our voters that only one ballot per eligible voter will be tabulated. I encourage any voter with questions to contact our office directly.
In April, Jeffreys said the mistake happened because absentee ballots were sent out around the same time Blizzard Elsa hit. Because of this, City Hall was closed an extra day. Jeffreys said the clerk’s office had to work quickly to get ballots sent out on time, which lead to double prints.
However, Eck said there should be no excuse for this happening again. Now, she’s introducing a resolution to request an audit.
“To look at the processes, to make sure that everything’s being done properly, because the fact that it happened once, that’s one thing. Having it again in the very next election, there’s a problem with the procedure,” Eck said.
Eck said the resolution is not meant to single anyone out, just to improve election security.
Jeffreys said a letter will be sent to all affected voters to return just one ballot.
In April, the Republican Party of Wisconsin filed a formal complaint with the Wisconsin Elections Commission over the initial duplicate ballots incident.
The organization issued a statement Monday:
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. One voter, one ballot. Wisconsin law demands nothing less.
In late May, Green Bay responded saying that no one voted twice and the city followed proper procedures, and that the case should be dismissed.
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