Wisconsin clerk who failed to count almost 200 ballots is suspended

MADISON, Wis. — The mayor of Wisconsin’s capital city said Wednesday that she has placed the municipal clerk on leave as investigators work to determine how she failed to count almost 200 absentee ballots in the November election.

Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway said in a statement that the city has launched an investigation and that she needed to suspend City Clerk Maribeth Witzel-Behl to maintain public confidence in the clerk’s office. The mayor added that the city will spare no expense to ensure every vote is counted heading into the swing state’s spring election. The state Elections Commission also is investigating whether Witzel-Behl violated any state laws or abused her discretion.

The uncounted ballots did not change the results of any races but four Madison voters whose ballots weren’t counted filed claims last week for $175,000 each from the city and Dane County, the first step toward initiating a lawsuit.

The mayor’s spokesperson, Dylan Brogan, said Witzel-Behl will continue to be paid during her suspension. She makes $152,300 annually. No listing for her personal contact information could be immediately found.

The suspension comes with the state’s April 1 general election just weeks away. The highest-profile race is between conservative Brad Schimel and liberal Susan Crawford for an open state Supreme Court seat. The outcome will determine the ideological balance of the court as it ponders cases involving abortion, the strength of public sector unions, voting rules and congressional district boundaries. Early voting begins next week.

Rhodes-Conway said in her statement that she has appointed City Attorney Michael Haas as interim city clerk and that she expects he will ensure the election runs smoothly in Madison. Haas has previously worked as administrator and attorney for the state elections commission.

Aides for Democratic and Republican legislative leaders didn’t immediately respond to messages Wednesday inquiring about whether Witzel-Behl’s suspension has affected their confidence in how the city will conduct the spring election.

According to commission investigators, Wiztel-Behl’s office discovered 67 unprocessed absentee ballots in a courier bag that had been placed in a security cart. The discovery came on Nov. 12, seven days after the election, while county workers were conducting the official count of election results.

Witzel-Behl said she told two employees to notify the elections commission, but neither did. A third city worker visited the Dane County Clerk’s Office to inform officials there, but that employee said the county didn’t want the ballots for the count, known as a canvass. Dane County Clerk Scott McDonell has said he knew nothing of the uncounted ballots until they were reported in the media.

Witzel-Behl’s office found another 125 uncounted absentee ballots in a sealed courier bag in a supply tote on Dec. 2. According to commission investigators, Witzel-Behl said she didn’t inform county canvassers because the canvass was finished. She added that based on the county’s response to the Nov. 12 discovery she didn’t think the county would be interested.

The commission wasn’t notified of either discovery until Dec. 18. Witzel-Behl told investigators that the employees she asked to notify the commission waited until reconciliation was completed. That’s a routine process in which poll workers and elections officials ensure an election’s accuracy, including checking the number of ballots issued at the polls against the number of voters. She couldn’t explain why she didn’t contact county officials or the elections commission herself, according to the investigators.

On Wednesday afternoon the elections commission unanimously approved sending a memo to clerks around the state outlining best practices for ensuring all ballots get counted in the spring election.

The recommendations include documenting election day incidents; making sure all materials are returned from polling sites; checking voting equipment ballot bins for anything that might have been missed; and immediately reporting any mistakes to county officials and the commission.

Commission Chair Ann Jacobs noted that all the recommendations are already part of the panel’s election day manuals but said the guidelines put them all in one place.