'Scathing' probe unearths uncounted ballots in key swing state in 2024 election
The Wisconsin Elections Commission issued a scathing report accusing the former Madison city clerk of failing to count all ballots during the 2024 election.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported Wednesday that an investigation uncovered nearly 200 ballots went uncounted due to the lack of proper tracking of absentee ballots and other violations.
"This profound failure undermines public confidence in elections. It is essential that every voter knows their properly-cast ballot will be counted," said a letter from commissioners about the findings of the probe.
The findings state that former Madison Clerk Maribeth Witzel-Behl refused to acknowledge "significant errors" in how the county dealt with the absentee ballots and refused to take action after learning 193 ballots were uncounted. Instead, she went on vacation.
"It was the job of the City Clerk to immediately take action once notified about the found ballots, and she did nothing. It was the responsibility of the Deputy Clerk to take action in her absence, and he did nothing. These ballots were treated as unimportant and a reconciliation nuisance, rather than as the essential part of our democracy they represent," the letter continued.
The commission found that two bags of uncounted absentee ballots "likely never made it to wards to be counted and may have been added to a ballot storage cart and supply tote after being discovered," said the report.
"The lack of action by the City Clerk with regard to the found ballots is astonishing. She demonstrated no urgency, let alone interest, in including those votes in the election tally," the commission's letter continued. "That would have required the City Clerk to take the urgent action that the situation demanded. Instead, she went on vacation and, per her testimony, never inquired about them again until mid-December."
At one point, the negligence of Dane County was so egregious that the commission found a door to be unlocked in the building where security carts containing absentee ballots were stored. An "unauthorized person" was then found sleeping there.
The clerk was suspended and ultimately resigned this spring.
Trump won Wisconsin by fewer than 30,000 votes. However, the report said that the missing ballots didn't make a difference in any federal, state, or local races during the election.