(The Center Square) – Election managers in Madison and Dane county are now facing a second lawsuit over ballot counting problems in Madison.
The law firm Law Forward filed a lawsuit Wednesday on behalf of two voters who may not have their ballots from the April election counted because those ballots were delivered to the polls late.
Madison’s clerk said a clerk’s office employee was delayed in getting the ballots to the polls before Wisconsin’s 8 p.m. deadline.
“These voters did everything Wisconsin law asked of them, and the city and county properly counted their ballots,” Law Forward President Jeff Mandell said in a statement. “Their votes were cast, received, and counted on Election Day. WEC is now trying to erase them from the record because of a clerical error these voters had absolutely no control over. Failing to count these absentee votes will only erode trust in our elections and jeopardize access to voting in future elections. It’s critical that the court take urgent action to ensure these votes are counted.”
Wisconsin law requires all ballots to be at their polling places by 8 p.m. Madison’s clerk has not said why 23 ballots were late, but said the person tasked with delivering them was “delayed.”
The Wisconsin Elections Commission last month said the late ballots should not be counted. Madison and Dane County’s Board of Canvassers this week voted to appeal that decision.
Still, it may be difficult to un-count the votes. Madison’s clerk has said poll workers did not track the late ballots, and so 20 random ballots would have to be “drawn down.”
This is the second lawsuit from Law Forward involving Madison’s election managers and mishandled ballots.
Law Forward is also driving the lawsuit for nearly 200 voters who saw their votes go uncounted in the November 2024 election. Those ballots were found after Election Day, but Madison’s former clerk never pushed to have them counted.
Law Forward is asking for a decision in the late ballots case before next week’s deadline to certify the April election results.
