Former Madison city clerk violated the law in handling the 193 uncounted ballots in November, finds Wisconsin Elections Commission

MADISON, Wis. (WMDX) – Wisconsin’s top election officials say the Madison city clerk acted unlawfully handling those 193 absentee ballots that went uncounted in the November election. 

Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway suspended then-clerk Maribeth Witzel-Behl after learning about the uncounted ballots. Witzel-Behl resigned from her post earlier this year after 20 years as city clerk.

Two members of the Wisconsin Elections Commission, Democrat Ann Jacobs and Republican Don Millis, conducted the investigation. They officially began looking into it January 2, 2025. 

They found Witzel-Behl violated the law on five counts (paraphrased):

• Not properly training staff, and not having control of the clerk’s office operations.
• Printing pollbooks too early.
• Not handling the absentee ballots properly. The Commission believes the sealed bags of ballots never made it to their polling places to be counted.
• Improper opening and counting of absentee ballots. Those ballots were not counted because they were not in the proper place.
• Not properly reconciling ballot numbers as part of the canvassing process. The Commission explains that there was still time for the ballots to be counted.

The commissioners are most critical of Witzel-Behl’s actions after the uncounted ballots were found. 

“It was the job of the City Clerk to immediately take action once notified about the found ballots, and she did nothing. It was the responsibility of the Deputy Clerk to take action in her absence, and he did nothing,” the letter reads. “These ballots were treated as unimportant and a reconciliation nuisance, rather than as the essential part of our democracy they represent.”

The commission reviewed nearly 2,000 pages of documents and took 13 sworn depositions. 

“Many times during her deposition, the City Clerk could not answer basic questions about absentee ballot handling procedures in her office,” the letter reads.

The City of Madison’s own investigation into the clerk’s office found that Witzel-Behl violated city rules in handling the uncounted ballots. The investigators concluded she had “significant violations” of city rules and breached her contract.

The City of Madison has instituted changes to ensure an error like this can never happen again. That’s been under the direction of city attorney Michael Haas, who was once the Administrator of the Wisconsin Elections Commission.

The WEC report includes seven separate recommendations for the City of Madison to prevent things like this in the future.

“I want to thank Commissioners and WEC staff for conducting a thorough inquiry into this matter, as well as City staff who provided documents and testimony,” Haas said in a statement. “We are currently reviewing WEC’s report and hope that it can provide lessons that we and other Wisconsin clerks can learn to prevent similar errors in the future.”

Commissioners have created updated guidance for clerks in future elections. They’ll vote on the report, and that guidance, at their meeting July 17.