MADISON – The Wisconsin Elections Commission is ordering officials in two counties to reverse their decisions on whether to count ballots during the spring election earlier this month.
In Madison, 23 ballots were counted that shouldn’t have been, the bipartisan commission ruled 5-1 on Thursday. And in Mequon, five ballots weren’t counted that should have been, the commission unanimously ruled.
Commissioners voted in a special meeting on April 30 to order the canvassing boards in Madison and Dane County to reject 23 absentee ballots that arrived at polling places after the polls closed. State law requires such ballots to be at polling locations before 8 p.m. on Election Day.
The commission also ordered officials in Ozaukee County and Mequon to count five absentee ballots that the Mequon clerk rejected due to missing witness information, a decision commissioners ruled was made after the clerk did go to adequate lengths to determine the witnesses’ addresses.
Democratic commission chairwoman Ann Jacobs and Republican commissioner Don Millis called the Madison Clerk Lydia McComas’ failure to ensure 23 absentee ballots received by her office on the Monday before Election Day got to the voters’ polling places before the 8 p.m. deadline “an absurd error,” and an “epic failure,” respectively.
“This entire situation troubles me on so many levels. This was an absurd error, apparently committed by somebody who was involved in Madison’s previous absurd errors coming out of the November election,” Jacobs said, referring to Madison’s failure to count nearly 200 ballots during the 2024 presidential election. The incident triggered an investigation by the commission, the first in the body’s history.
Jacobs said she hoped the affected voters appealed their decision, noting the commission must follow the law that forbids the ballots to be counted and cannot act as judges.
“I hope they pursue this with the judiciary. I hope that the sins of the clerk are not settled on the shoulders of the voter,” she said. “It’s astonishing that we have to do this again.”
McComas, in a statement, said “It’s disappointing that the Wisconsin Election Commission’s directive is to reject ballots that were properly cast by voters.”
“We also strongly urge the State Legislature to consider revising state statutes to ease the administrative burden on local clerks so that every eligible ballot is counted — particularly when a voter did nothing wrong,” she said.
Democratic Commissioner Mark Thomsen was the lone vote against the motion to issue the order to Madison and Dane County canvassing boards, arguing the move disenfranchises voters and was contrary to the spirit of the state’s election laws.
Jacobs also criticized Mequon Clerk Caroline Fochs for refusing to accept ballots with missing address information that could be easily obtained − a decision Jacobs also called “astonishing.”
“It’s astonishing that Mequon didn’t endeavor to count them, but it’s, I think, equally as astonishing that we disenfranchised 23 voters when we didn’t have to,” Thomsen said to Jacobs.
“You and I simply disagree on the ‘have to’ part,” Jacobs replied.
In both cases, the county canvassing boards affirmed the municipalities’ counting decisions. Both orders passed by the bipartisan commission require the boards to reverse course.
Molly Beck can be reached at molly.beck@jrn.com.
(This story was updated to add new information.)
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: WEC reverses ballot counting decisions in Mequon, Madison
Reporting by Molly Beck, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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