Contact: Lisa Dixon
Following the non-partisan Center for Election Confidence’s (CEC) efforts to draw attention to the matter and offer its assistance, the Wisconsin Election Commission (WEC) voted unanimously to open an investigation into Green Bay’s mishandling of absentee ballots for the April and August elections, and the City placed Clerk Celestine Jeffries on leave, calling the duplicate ballot errors “unacceptable”.
“Elections are too important not to focus on getting it right every time, and we appreciate WEC, the mayor, and the Council for bringing oversight and accountability to the clerk’s office ahead of the midterms”, said Caleb Hays, Chief Policy Counsel for the Center for Election Confidence (CEC).
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On July 1, the non-profit CEC sent a letter to Mayor Genrich, Green Bay Common Council members, and other Green Bay officials, detailing the City Clerk’s concerning pattern of mailing duplicate ballots to voters and offering its assistance with development of a long-term solution after it was discovered that the same issue that had affected the April Supreme Court election occurred again for the August primary election.
After CEC’s letter, the Wisconsin Election Commission took up the matter during its July 9 quarterly meeting, and CEC offered public comment.
There, the Commission determined an investigation was warranted into whether City Clerk Celestine Jeffreys or city employees failed to comply with Wisconsin law regarding preparation and mailing of absentee ballots, and directed Jeffreys to submit a plan detailing what safeguards her office will implement going forward to prevent future election irregularities.
Wisconsin Election Commissioner Ann Jacobs stated, “I am really concerned that, first of all, it happened once—OK—but then for the exact same error to happen a second time weeks later, is unconscionable.”
“We need to dig into this a little more. What might have been a singular error is clearly a significant problem. Any assurances we had after the first time it happened that it wouldn’t happen again are sort of thin at this point,” continued Jacobs.
CEC continues to offer its expert assistance to Green Bay officials with the development of solutions that would avoid further election mistakes.
