Wisconsin Elections Commission says it did not OK Green Bay ballot counting process after error

GREEN BAY – Wisconsin's election regulators did not weigh in on whether Green Bay could keep counting absentee ballots after the city discovered an error in its public notice, the state agency said Wednesday.

"The Wisconsin Elections Commission had no role in authorizing the city of Green Bay's decision regarding what time to process absentee ballots," spokesman Riley Vetterkind wrote in an email. "The WEC told city of Green Bay officials on Election Day they should work with their attorneys on whether their meeting notice was sufficient."

The statement contradicted information the Green Bay Press-Gazette received from city officials late Tuesday.

Amaad Rivera, chief of staff to Mayor Eric Genrich's office, said the clerk's office mistyped the notice to read that ballot counting would open to the public for observation at 4 p.m. when it meant 7 a.m.

According to Rivera, the city was made aware of the error before polls opened and contacted the Wisconsin Elections Commission about the issue and asked whether the city could proceed. He said the commission allowed the city to proceed, although Vetterkind said Wednesday that the WEC had not given an opinion one way or the other on whether Green Bay could legally keep counting despite the notice error.

City Clerk Celestine Jeffreys, in a written statement Wednesday to the Elections Commission, said she decided to keep counting ballots after consulting with both the commission and the city's legal department. She noted that observers from the public had been present since shortly after counting began at 7 a.m., regardless of the notice error.

Jeffreys said she learned of the error around 11:20 a.m., then paused the count for legal advice.

"The decision to resume counting was up to the clerk’s discretion, in consultation with legal counsel," Jeffreys wrote. "Pursuant to this information, and given the fact that election observers had been present at Central Count since absentee ballot counting began shortly after the polls opened, I exercised my discretion to permit the counting of absentee ballots to resume at around 12:24 p.m."

The public notice error led the Republican Party of Wisconsin to send a cease and desist letter to the Green Bay clerk's office seeking to halt the counting of absentee ballots Tuesday.

The notice posted Tuesday on the doors of City Hall and on the city website read, "The processing of vote-by-mail absentee ballots will be open to the public from 4 pm to 5 pm, or until finished, whereby printing of the totals will take place. The process is done in a manner which ensures the secrecy of all ballots."

An even number of Republican and Democratic election inspectors had been inspecting ballots since 7 a.m. before handing them over to Steve Grenier, the city's director of public works, to process.

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"We've been operating like we always do for every central count, which is that we start as soon as polls open, which is statutorily completely allowed," Rivera said.

The Press-Gazette has submitted a formal request to the city for public records related to the primary election ballot count, including any recorded communications with the WEC.

Vetterkind told the Press-Gazette on Tuesday evening that state law allows municipalities to begin counting absentee ballots at 7 a.m. on Election Day "with proper notice." He did not address at that time whether the commission had authorized Green Bay to continue its count.

He also noted that the processing of ballots, feeding them into counting machines, should be open to observation by the public and that election inspectors — poll workers — are required to work in pairs during that process.

Jeffreys says there was at least one observer present for the entire process, and that she paused the ballot counting a second time when when the Republican Party sent its cease and desist letter.

The Republican Party of Brown County also issued a news release Tuesday accusing Jeffreys of operating "above the law" by beginning the ballot-counting process before the time posted for the public.

"There should be no tolerance for undermining the public’s right to observe, inspect and ultimately, participate in the Election Day process," Brown County GOP Chairman James Fitzgerald said in the release, which did not mention that inspectors were present for the count.

The state Republican Party issued the cease and desist request to the clerk's office around 2:30 p.m. Jeffreys said she waited until 4 p.m., the time on the notice, to resume counting after that letter.

Rivera and Jeffreys both noted that members of the public had unrestricted access to observe the ballot counting from the time it started at 7 a.m. until it was completed around 9:30 p.m. Jeffreys said there were multiple observers present most of that time.

"The only issue was the clerical error," Rivera said. "City Hall had been open to the public all day. There were no barriers, there were no limitations."

City voters were choosing among candidates in some Green Bay City Council and Brown County Board races. The candidates with the most votes Tuesday advanced to the April 5 general election.

Natalie Eilbert is a government watchdog reporter for the Green Bay Press-Gazette. You can reach her at neilbert@gannett.com or view her Twitter profile at @natalie_eilbert.

This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: State Elections Commission didn't OK Green Bay's counting of results