Almost 200 Absentee Ballots Weren’t Counted in Madison

MADISON, Wis. (WMDX) – About 200 ballots from the november election weren’t counted, according to the Madison City Clerk’s office. 

While staff were reconciling the results and doing some clean-up, they found 193 absentee ballots from wards 56, 65 and 68. The clerk’s office posted a notice on the city website Thursday. 

The notice said city clerk staff found the first batch when they emptied the tabulator bin for Ward 65 on November 12. Inside that bin was a sealed courier bag, with 68 absentee ballots inside. 67 of them were from Ward 65, and there was one from Ward 68 due to a sorting error. 

The second batch of ballots was found on December 3, during the reconciliation process. That’s when staff essentially confirm voter participation totals, a process that begins right after the election. They found a sealed absentee carrier envelope with 125 ballots inside. 

The city clerk’s office said they notified the Wisconsin Elections Commission on December 20. 

Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway’s office released a statement saying that’s when they were informed as well.

“Unfortunately, Clerk’s Office staff were apparently aware of the oversight for some time and the Mayor’s Office was not notified of the unprocessed ballots until December 20,” the statement reads. “We immediately asked the Clerk’s Office to prepare an explanation and then moved quickly to inform the public. The City will also be individually contacting each of the voters affected to notify them and apologize.”

The 193 ballots were not enough to change the results of any race.

“While the discovery of these unprocessed absentee ballots did not impact the results of any election or referendum, a discrepancy of this magnitude is unacceptable,” the mayor said in the statement. “This oversight is a significant departure from the high standard our residents expect and must be addressed and avoided in future elections.”

City clerk staff will be contacting the voters from wards 56, 65 and 68 whose ballots were not counted to let them know. 

“The goal of the Clerk’s Office is that each eligible voter will be able to cast a ballot and have that ballot counted. Falling short of this goal for the November 2024 Election,” said the statement from the clerk’s office. “We sincerely apologize to our voters and will strive to make sure this never happens again.”

To prevent this in the future, the Madison city clerk’s office will be giving every polling place a list of envelope seal numbers, so they’ll be able to verify that all were counted. 

Meanwhile, the mayor’s office plans to do a full review of the city’s election policies and procedures. 

“We plan to conduct a thorough review of the City’s election policies and procedures to ensure this kind of oversight does not recur. My office is committed to taking whatever corrective action is necessary to maintain a high standard of election integrity in Madison, and to provide ongoing transparency into that process.”