WEC says Green Bay clerk likely violated election law

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Green Bay City Clerk Celestine Jeffreys likely broke state law in accidentally mailing duplicated absentee ballots to some voters, according to initial findings by the Wisconsin Elections Commission.

The clerk’s office had sent 152 voters two, instead of one, absentee ballots ahead of the April 7 spring election. A complaint by Theresa Sipes, a member of the Republican Party of Brown County, alleged the replica ballots risked double voting and the possibility for fraud. Jeffreys denied the complaint, arguing she had done her duty to prevent double voting and that the complaint was moot following the election’s conclusion.

The commission largely sided with Sipes in a six-page analysis, though noted that, “Administrative errors can and will happen, and in this case additional safeguards appear likely to address the issue and prevent it from occurring.”

If its findings are upheld at its July 9 meeting, the commission will order Jeffreys to conform to state law and to create procedures preventing future duplication of ballots.

The analysis said that “While the respondent [Jeffreys] appears to have done her duty to prevent any voter from voting more than once, the allegation is that she issued duplicate ballots when she should not have and that is an issue that could affect future elections and that the commission is empowered to [address].”

Jeffreys did not immediately respond to the Green Bay Press-Gazette’s request for comment.

The commission’s conclusion added to a series of both unfounded and validated election complaints filed against Jeffreys since her tenure as city clerk began in 2021.

Another ballot duplication error was reported this week with absentee ballots for the August primary, citing a printing error. “I regret the printing error occurred,” city clerk Celestine Jeffreys said in the news release this week. “I assure our voters that only one ballot per eligible voter will be tabulated. I encourage any voter with questions to contact our office directly.”

This prompted backlash from some conservatives who have cast doubt on the city’s election processes.

Republican candidate for governor Tom Tiffany, who has recently resurfaced Green Bay’s handling of the 2020 election, called for a “full audit and accountability” in a June 29 post to X, formerly Twitter, after the city announced it had repeated its ballot duplication error.

In a Facebook post that same day, City Council member Melinda Eck said she had submitted a resolution asking for an independent audit of the city’s operations around elections, specifically on absentee ballots.

“When members of the public ask us what steps are being taken to prevent similar errors in the future, I believe they deserve more than assurances,” Eck wrote. “They deserve a transparent, independent review of the city’s procedures and a clear explanation of what can be improved.”

Jeffreys has previously defended her handling of replicated ballots, saying in an April 7 news conference that of the 152 voters sent duplicate ballots, only one voter sent back both. In that instance, the clerk’s office asked the that the voter spoil the ballots and was given a new one.

She attributed the duplication in April to an administrative error in her response to Sipes’ complaint. According to the response, a batch of certificate labels had not been put into a folder for recordkeeping purposes after being made into labels to go on envelopes. This caused an election worker to believe that a batch of labels “had not been completed,” which were then recopied and made into the 152 duplicates, according to Jeffrey’s response.

The response said Jeffreys learned of the replicas on March 23 and mailed notices to the affected voters on March 30.

The response said that going forward, she would “ensure that all certificate labels documents are clearly marked to identify date of printing and date of completion” and that she “is exploring technological upgrades to help improve efficiency in printing certificate labels for absentee ballots.”

Jeffreys and Michael Bergman, the city’s communications director, have declined to answer questions from the Press-Gazette on the repeat occurrence of duplicated ballots.