(The Center Square) – Dane County’s interim city clerk is mostly changing his tone regarding the Wisconsin Elections Commission.
Michael Haas, who is both Dane County’s new clerk and the city attorney, was a guest on UpFront over the weekend.
He said he imagines Dane County will make the changes the Elections Commission wants after a WEC investigation found the county’s previous clerk likely broke the law when she didn’t count nearly 200 absentee ballots last fall.
“I don’t see any issue with the clerk’s office being able to comply. I think some of the specific or the specifics of logistically how to comply still need to be sorted out by the clerk’s office, but I anticipate that the city will be meeting what the commission requested,” Haas said.
That’s a change from last week when Haas asked for a legal opinion as to whether the Elections Commission had the constitutional authority to force Dane County to do more than is required by state law.
“My initial reaction was that this order was really out of the ordinary and how specific it was not to correct an ongoing issue, but to require additional processes in the future for a clerk who is no longer with the city, and that are not required by other municipalities and that go beyond what is actually required in the statute,” Haas added.
But he also said, “I don’t think that serves voters to continue a legal debate with the commission.”
Among the changes that Hass objected to was a requirement that Dane County provide the Elections Commission with a list of people in the clerk’s office who are responsible for counting ballots, and a list of backups in case those people are not available.
The ordered changes from the WEC come after former Dane County Clerk Marybeth Witzel-Behl didn’t count nearly 200 absentee ballots in the November election. The Election Commission investigation found that Witzel-Behl knew about the uncounted ballots but didn’t tell anyone for almost a month. Instead, investigators said, she went on vacation and baked cookies.
While the WEC investigation found that Witzell-Behl likely broke the law, commissioners did not ask for any charges to be filed in the case.
