Wisconsin’s top election official says safeguards ensure only one vote is counted per person after voters in two cities received multiple ballots.

“If two ballots come back, one of them is rejected, because only one ballot can be checked in and tabulated,” Wisconsin Elections Commission Administrator Meagan Wolfe said during a media availability yesterday. 

Wolfe made her comments on the same day the Republican Party of Wisconsin filed a complaint with the Elections Commission regarding a situation where 152 Green Bay voters were accidentally sent two absentee ballots. 

The party argued in its complaint that the error created a “substantial risk of confusion, double voting and increasing the opportunity for and possibility of fraud.”

Green Bay City Clerk Celestine Jeffries did not immediately return a voicemail and email seeking comment. 

She told WLUK last week that the duplicate ballots were mistakenly sent out as clerk staff rushed to send out ballots before a blizzard hit. The clerk’s office learned about the mistake when voters called to notify city staff they’d received a second absentee ballot.  

Elections Commission Chair Ann Jacobs, a Democratic appointee, wrote on X that voters could not vote twice using absentee ballots since returned ballots are matched to state records showing who requested an absentee ballot. 

“The system is designed so no voter can return 2 ballots & have them both count,” Jacobs wrote. 

Wolfe did not address what would happen if duplicate absentee ballots that were filled out differently were returned. 

Jacobs told WisPolitics that while she was not “100% crystal clear” on the issue, “the most common way that would be done is what arrives first is your ballot.” 

Wolfe said any situations involving duplicate ballots being sent in will be handled publicly and transparently, either at polling places or local ballot tabulation sites. 

“We always in these situations encourage our clerks to be very transparent in how these are handled and the many, many safeguards we have in place to make sure only one ballot is counted,” Wolfe said. 

Information like the number of spoiled ballots in an election is publicly available, and Republicans and Democrats must both be represented among poll workers at each polling place. 

Absentee voters in Racine also received multiple ballots after an uncontested race was mistakenly left off the ballot, Jacobs said on X. 

In that case, voters were sent a corrected ballot with the uncontested race added and could return either ballot – though the later, corrected ballot would be counted over the original ballot if both were filled out and returned. 

“There is a very established process that allows clerks to track when they make this kind of mistake,” Wolfe said. 

Racine’s city clerk’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.