Rep. Tom Tiffany, R-Wisconsin, called for an immediate investigation after Madison city officials said Tuesday that 2,215 duplicate ballots were mistakenly sent out in 10 precincts.
Madison officials said the duplicate ballots had identical bar codes and could not be counted twice.
“The Madison city clerk said duplicate absentee ballots were sent to one precinct yesterday,” Tiffany wrote on X. “Now they're saying there are 10. We need an independent investigation now, not after the election.”
Tiffany's office clarified that the Madison Clerk's Office initially said the duplicate ballots were sent to only one precinct, but later “changed its story” because the duplicate ballots spanned all 10 precincts.
“This matter cannot just be swept under the rug,” Tiffany said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “Those responsible for this need to be held accountable.”
President Biden won Wisconsin, a key battleground state, by fewer than 21,000 votes in 2020.
Madison Deputy City Clerk Jim Berbick said “human error occurred” and affected voters who had the same style or the same office listed on their ballots, WKOW reported.
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Rep. Tom Tiffany (R-Wis.) (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call via Getty Images)
In a letter to Madison City Clerk Maribeth Witzel Baer, Tiffany cited “the city of Madison's history of controversial and legally questionable election practices in the past” and said he “demands an explanation and transparency” about what happened.
“Voters deserve clear answers about the full extent of this failure, how you plan to restore public confidence in the City's ability to accurately administer our elections, and assurances that those responsible will be held accountable,” Tiffany wrote in the letter, obtained by Fox News Digital.
The state capital, Madison, is considered a Democratic stronghold.
“While an error was made and the clerk's office quickly corrected the error and reassured voters, there is no chance that duplicate absentee ballots will be counted,” city spokesman Dylan Brogan told Fox News Digital.
Vice President Harris speaks during a campaign event in Madison, Wisconsin on September 20, 2024. (Alex Wroblewski/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The clerk's office described the incident as a “data processing error” and explained that the duplicate ballots had identical barcodes, and because the voting system does not accept the same barcode twice, even if a voter submitted two absentee ballots, only one would be counted.
Also, once the ballot is scanned, the voter roll will be marked as having cast an absentee ballot — another precaution to prevent voters from submitting a second ballot, the clerk's office said.
Brogan said the mistake occurred when two identical files were combined, creating a list with doubled names and addresses. Up to 2,000 duplicate ballots were mailed in one precinct last weekend, after the error was discovered and corrected. Brogan said the clerk's office is contacting voters individually to inform them of the error and remind them to only submit one ballot.
“Despite duplicate ballots being sent in, we will only accept one ballot from each voter. Once the ballots are returned, we will verify that there is only one ballot,” Berbick said.
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“We had about 3,000 voters who all used the same ballot style, and based on the limitations of the files we could pull from the registration system, we had to split it into two different files to cover that,” Berbick told WKOW. “We tried to merge the two, but instead of it being merged, one was copied.”
Former President Trump attended a campaign event in Mosinee, Wisconsin on September 7, 2024. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
“I just want to let voters know that it's OK to throw away one of your ballots,” Berbick said. “Don't send both in. You can only throw away one ballot. You can only throw away one ballot, you can only throw away the other ballot.”
When asked about Tiffany's letter, Berbick told WKOW, “I just want to say this. [the clerk’s office] Everything we do regarding the election is very transparent and I will leave it at that.”
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He added that no independent investigation is currently being conducted.
Brogan told The Associated Press that Witzel Baer was in the process of responding to Tiffany's letter and “answering all of these questions thoroughly.”
“Whether it's Tom Tiffany or whoever it is, we want everyone to know what happened,” Brogan said.
As of Monday, Madison had sent out 27,421 absentee ballots, but none had been returned, according to the State Board of Elections. Brogan said no duplicate ballots have been returned since then.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
