Green Bay duplicate ballots spark new GOP complaint

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The state GOP is calling on the Elections Commission to investigate the city of Green Bay for sending duplicate absentee ballots to voters for a second time this year.

The follows the party previously helping to file a complaint against Green Bay Clerk Celestine Jeffreys after her office mailed duplicate absentee ballots to 152 voters ahead of the spring election.

“Green Bay voters deserve reliable elections, not repeated failures that undermine trust,” said state GOP spokesperson Anika Rickard. “WEC must hold the clerk accountable, investigate, and ensure these issues are fixed before November. One voter, one ballot. Wisconsin law demands nothing less.”

The city announced over the weekend that voters in eight wards may have received duplicate ballots. Jeffreys attributed it to a printing error and said that “only one ballot per eligible voter will be tabulated.” But the city provided no other details.

Jeffreys yesterday declined to answer questions from WisPolitics, directing calls to city spokesperson Michael Bergman. He wrote in an email there was no new information to share as of early yesterday afternoon as the city continued to investigate the cause of the printing error.

In response to the original complaint filed against her over the spring mailing, Jeffreys and Assistant City Attorney Logan Wood chalked up the issue to administrative error. They also argued there is no statutory prohibition against mailing voters more than one absentee ballot.

According to the response, an election worker mistakenly thought a batch of absentee ballots hadn’t yet been prepared for mailing. That led to the 152 duplicate ballots.

One voter returned both ballots, but the city notified them of the issue. The voter requested both ballots be spoiled and was issued another one.

The response argued the complaint was moot because the spring election was over, only one ballot was tabulated per voter and the relief sought in the complaint would have “no practical effect.”

Among other things, the complaint sought a detailed written plan from the city for tracking and handling any duplicate ballots returned for the April 7 election and any “corrective and remedial action as the Commission deems necessary and appropriate to ensure compliance with Wisconsin election law” by Jeffreys and other clerks going forward.

“Wisconsin law prohibits election fraud, not the inadvertent issuance of multiple ballots,” the response argued.

The Elections Commission has yet to act on the complaint.