MADISON – Madison officials failed to count a single ballot cast in the February primary election − a small error that comes at a time when the city and former clerk face a class-action lawsuit over losing track of nearly 200 ballots in the 2024 presidential election.
The uncounted ballot was found three weeks after the election inside a laptop bag used at an in-person absentee voting location, according to a memo Madison Clerk Lydia McComas sent to the Wisconsin Elections Commission on March 13.
“I want to assure the Election Commission that this mistake is not indicative of a systematic failure,” she told commissioners in the memo obtained by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. McComas was not the city’s clerk during the 2024 election.
The uncounted ballot was found two days before Madison election officials told reporters at a news conference there were “no issues” during the February primary related to counting ballots.
“The City of Madison Clerk’s Office administered the February election with a 99.99% success rate and in complete compliance with WEC’s directives,” McComas said in a statement to the Journal Sentinel.
“While regrettable, these types of incidents do occur because the absentee ballot process prescribed by Wisconsin law is a highly technical, human-intensive process. We learn from our mistakes and continue to strengthen our processes.”
McComas and her staff discovered the ballot on March 4 and immediately reported it to Wisconsin Election Commission administrator Meagan Wolfe, who directed McComas to draft a memo on the incident, according to city officials.
McComas told the bipartisan commission in the memo that the missing ballot was flagged on Election Day by an election inspector for the voter’s ward, but clerk officials deemed the error a mix-up.
“Our office looked at WisVote and saw that there was another voter with the same name and assumed that there was a voter mix-up,” McComas wrote.
“These types of mix-ups are very rare but can happen when the in-person absentee voting staff do not make sure the voter checks the address and date of birth listed on the ballot label.”
She told commissioners the protocol for handling in-person absentee ballots “clearly directs staff to only store and transport ballots in the designated ballot container.”
“Ballots should never be stored in a laptop bag. The in-person absentee staff member did not follow protocol when they placed the ballot in the laptop bag,” McComas wrote.
The error comes as the city and former clerk Maribeth Witzel-Behl face a class-action lawsuit brought by Madison voters and liberal law firm Law Forward over the clerk’s failure to count 193 ballots during the 2024 presidential election.
The episode prompted an investigation by the Wisconsin Elections Commission and a set of corrective measures for the city. Witzel-Behl has since resigned.
Ann Jacobs, Democratic chairwoman of the bipartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission, said she was pleased with how McComas responded to the situation.
“Obviously, we were disappointed to learn of a ballot that had not been counted. I was pleased to see that the clerk immediately addressed the issue and has revised her procedures to try to prevent this from recurring,” Jacobs said.
“That’s what the clerk needs to do,” Jacobs said about the quick action. “Obviously, that’s what didn’t happen [before]” when the former Madison clerk lost track of nearly 200 ballots.
Jacobs said she estimates scenarios like Madison’s occur “fairly rarely” but did not have data on how often exactly.
“We know they occur once in a while,” Jacobs said.
Madison officials apologized to the voter whose ballot wasn’t counted
A spokesman for Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway said McComas conducted a full investigation into the missed ballot, “which has already resulted in changes to elections procedures.”
“The Clerk’s Office has also contacted the affected voter and apologized for this mistake,” Rhodes-Conway spokesman Dylan Brogan said in a statement.
Brogan said the commission has not yet responded or provided city officials with guidance on how to “properly disclose this isolated incident.”
The ballot was cast on the last day of in-person absentee voting in Ward 14, on the city’s southeast side.
McComas said the ballot “was stuck at the bottom of the laptop bag and was not visible until everything else had been removed from the bag.”
She said the laptops are used only for early voting and were not reopened until staff began to prepare for the next early voting period.
McComas told commissioners that clerk staff will mitigate the error by reconciling in-person absentee ballots at the end of each early voting day to ensure staff catch any uncounted ballots before Election Day.
She also said staff will inspect each laptop bag after the last day of early voting, provide additional training and address the error with the person who made it.
“Every voter who casts their ballot puts their trust in my office to properly count their vote. The ballot found on March 4, 2026, should have been counted on Election Day,” McComas told commissioners.
“Mistakes happen. The purpose of this communication is to ensure the Commission is aware of this mistake and the steps my office is taking to ensure it does not happen again.”
Molly Beck and Jessie Opoien can be reached at molly.beck@jrn.com and jessie.opoien@jrn.com.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Madison reports failing to count a ballot in February primary
Reporting by Molly Beck and Jessie Opoien, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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