Thousands of voters in Wisconsin's capital, Madison, recently received duplicate absentee ballots by mail in what officials said was a “blunder” due to “human error,” but at least some Republican lawmakers in the area have suggested more nefarious motives.
Late last week, the Madison Clerk's Office mailed out duplicate ballots after an official trying to merge two separate data files apparently mistakenly copied them instead, said Deputy Clerk Jim Berbick. said. WKOW.
City spokesperson Dylan Brogan said there are already several “fail safe“Measures are in place to prevent voters from casting multiple votes.
The city is contacting each individual who received a duplicate ballot and instructing the voter to destroy one of the ballots. If the message is missed or ignored, the unique barcode associated with the absentee ballot sent to the voter will prevent the voter from casting multiple votes.
Finally, Mr. Brogan explained: APRegistered voters who have cast an absentee ballot will be marked in the system. If you attempt another vote, your record will reflect that the voter is not eligible to cast another vote.
”“This was a mistake,” Brogan said, “and the office moved to correct it as soon as possible.”
“Your firm's … relentless efforts to wipe out your website and any personal links to the controversial Zuckerbucks-funded entity are… It will only increase public doubts about your ability and willingness to administer a fair election. ”
Officials like Mr. Berbick and Mr. Brogan have rushed to claim that the threat of possible voting fraud has been contained, but at least one Republican lawmaker is not satisfied with their explanation.
Passionate US Congressman Tom Tiffany trump supporter The state, which does not include Madison, demanded more answers because the apparent mistake occurred in one of the state's most Democratic areas. What's more, city officials say they keep changing their story.
Quoting Verbick, Tiffany argued: letter In a letter to Madison Clerk Maribeth Witzel Behr, the absentee ballot itself actually does not have a unique barcode, only a return envelope, and a second ballot by the same voter could be rejected. There are doubts as to whether the he tweeted image He submitted an absentee ballot to support his claim.
Additionally, officials initially claimed the issue affected “up to 2,000” voters in just one district, but revised that figure just 24 hours later to at least 2,215 voters in at least 10 districts. . As a result, Tiffany said, some affected voters did not receive a message from the city, especially because “city officials were not yet fully aware of how widespread the 'error' was.” He said it was possible.
Tiffany has since requested a third-party investigation into the incident, but city officials have so far denied those requests.
“Allow a third-party investigation into what happened and your persistent efforts to erase your website and personal links to the controversial Zuckerbucks-funded group. Your office's continued resistance to doing so will only increase public doubts about your ability and willingness to “conduct free and fair elections,'' Tiffany wrote.
Tiffany also accused the city of having a “history of controversial and legally questionable election practices.”
In response to the accusation, Berbick told WKOW, “No comment.”
However, Berbick generally responded to Tiffany's letter by saying: [the clerk’s office] We're very transparent about what we do regarding elections, so I'd like to leave it at that. ”
In response to a question about the exact number of duplicate ballots and wards involved, Mr Brogan told Blaze News that 10 wards – “1, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10 and 11'' – had “2,215 ballots.'' “Duplicate absentee ballots were issued to voters.” , 12, 14, [and] 15.”
Voter fraud is a problem in any instance, but the problem is particularly acute in the battleground state of Wisconsin, where Joe Biden officially won by fewer than 21,000 votes four years ago. In 2016, Trump won Wisconsin by about 28,000 votes.
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