Wisconsin Rep. Tom Tiffany is demanding an immediate investigation after 2,215 duplicate absentee ballots were mailed out to voters.
His call for an investigation comes after Madison city officials admitted to the error this week.
“This was a mistake,” city spokesperson Dylan Brogan told the Associated Press. “On the day we found out a clerical error occurred, we immediately reached out to voters.”
He added that safeguards are in place to ensure that the duplicate ballots aren’t counted.
“Despite duplicate ballots being sent out, we will only accept one ballot from every voter, and when we get them back we will make sure that we only have one ballot,” Madison City Deputy Clerk Jim Verbick added in a statement to local station WKOW.
There’s just one problem. Whereas city officials originally claimed the ballots were distributed to only one ward, this has since been updated to 10 wards. Tiffany isn’t happy about this.
“There needs to be an independent investigation now, not after the election,” he tweeted Wednesday.
BREAKING: The City of Madison clerk said the duplicate absentee ballots were sent to one ward yesterday.
Now, they say it’s 10.
There needs to be an independent investigation now, not after the election.
— Rep. Tom Tiffany (@RepTiffany) September 25, 2024
“This can’t just be swept under the rug,” he added in a statement to Fox News. “The people responsible for this need to be held accountable.”
To that end, he’s written a letter to Madison Clerk Maribeth Witzel-Behl demanding “answers and transparency.”
In the letter he demands to know how the “error” was discovered, whether law enforcement has been contacted, who made the “error,” which wards were affected, and more.
“Given the history of controversial and legally dubious election practices carried out by Madison officials in the past – and your own personal history as an operative for the left-wing, ‘Zuckerbucks’ financed Center for Tech and Civic Life – I don’t have to tell you how important it is for the city to provide full transparency regarding how an ‘error’ of this magnitude was allowed to happen at such a pivotal time,” he wrote.
“Voters deserve clear answers regarding the full scope of this blunder, how the city plans to restore public confidence in its ability to accurately administer the election, and assurances that those responsible are held accountable,” he added.
⏰It’s been over 24 hours, and my office is still waiting on a response from the Madison Clerk’s Office regarding duplicate absentee ballots.
What started as a problem in 1 ward now spans at least 10.
These inconsistencies deserve answers and an independent investigation. pic.twitter.com/GAfJiYQKRH
— Rep. Tom Tiffany (@RepTiffany) September 25, 2024
According to Verbick, the “error” happened when a data processing error occurred as city officials were trying to merge two files but copied them instead.
“About 3,000 voters all use the same ballot style, and we had to separate it into two different files to cover that range based on the limitation of the files that we can pull out of the registration system,” he told WKOW. “We tried to combine the two, and instead, one of them got copied instead of combined.”
Asked to comment on Tiffany’s letter, he claimed the city is already transparent.
“I would just say that [the clerk’s office] is very transparent about anything we do with elections, and I would just leave it at that,” he said.
Yet he admitted that at this current moment, there are no plans to seek out a third party to conduct an investigation.
Also, he argued that the duplicate ballots have identical barcodes, thus ostensibly preventing them from being counted.
“I would just tell the voters that you can destroy one of the ballots,” Verbick said. “Please do not send in both ballots, only one vote, one ballot and the other can be destroyed.”
The problem, according to Tiffany, is that the ballots don’t have a barcode!
DEVELOPING: Although the Madison Clerk’s Office claims, “The voting system does not allow a ballot with the same barcode to be submitted,” my office has proof that there is no barcode on the actual ballots.
Here is a picture of the absentee ballots – NO BARCODE. pic.twitter.com/1ZepAFW5RK
— Rep. Tom Tiffany (@RepTiffany) September 25, 2024
The AP, in a rush to defend the city, has sought to “fact-check” this complaint.
“Ballots in Wisconsin do not contain barcodes,” the supposed “fact-check” reads. “Envelopes that absentee ballots are returned in do contain barcodes so the voter can track their ballot to ensure it was received. The barcodes also allow election officials to ensure that the same voter does not cast a ballot in person on Election Day.”
But again, there’s just one problem: Verbick specifically said the BALLOTS (not the envelopes) have barcodes!
The Madison Clerk’s Office original press release said nothing about a barcode on the envelope.
They claimed it was on the ballot, and only changed their quote after we exposed it.
Why do they keep editing their statements and press releases? pic.twitter.com/WxYEdfY4Hf
— Rep. Tom Tiffany (@RepTiffany) September 26, 2024
Writers and editors can be contacted at [email protected] with feedback, tips, or corrections.
V. Saxena is a staff writer with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University. Saxena also contributes to BizPac Review.
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