Wisconsin elections officials to decide Monday whether former Green Bay clerk broke law

Celestine Jeffreys. PC: Fox 11 Online

GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — Staff members at the Wisconsin Elections Commission agreed with Green Bay’s assessment about how duplicate absentee ballots were sent out, but it will still be up to the commissioners to decide Monday if former Clerk Celestine Jeffreys acted “contrary to law” and “abused her discretion.”

Green Bay sent duplicate absentee ballots to voters in both the April and August elections. City officials have said no one was able to vote twice. After initially being placed on leave, Jeffreys stepped down after one city filing with the state cited her actions for the cause of the August incident.

The Wisconsin Elections Commission has been investigating to determine what, if any, violations of election law took place.

According to a memo prepared for Monday’s meeting, WEC staff reviewed the city’s response to WEC’s questions.

“Staff believe the City of Green Bay answered the Commission’s questions and directives as fully as possible given that some of the facts (such as how many duplicate absentee ballots were sent out in June) are unknowable. Using the City’s Print Shop (as opposed to the system of printing, copying onto label sheets, and paper clipping originals and copies) on its own seems like a significant process improvement. Staff agree with Green Bay’s assessment that the root problem in both incidents seemed to be individuals either not realizing that a batch had already been sent out, or concluding that labels were missing when they weren’t. Having another person involved before any address labels are reprinted will ensure that two people are checking and following the new clerk’s office process instead of one,” wrote Angela O’Brien Sharpe, attorney supervisor.

She also offered a suggestion what a possible order from the WEC could include:

“The Commission may wish to consider as part of their order asking Green Bay for a detailed process document that outlines how they will ensure that the correct number of ballots are issued. The WEC’s WisVote system has many reports available to clerks that can be used to ensure that the count for the number of voters being issued a ballot in a batch matches the count of the physical ballots being sent,” O’Brien Sharpe wrote.

The memo contains two possible motions (emphasis in the original).

Possible Motion 1

“The Wisconsin Elections Commission, pursuant to its ongoing investigation into this matter under Wis. Stat. 5.06(4), directs staff to take the following actions: [any additional investigation steps].”

Possible Motion 2

“The Wisconsin Elections Commission has reviewed the responses and materials received from the City of Green Bay and summarily decides this matter by concluding that Clerk Jeffreys DID/DID NOT take actions contrary to law AND/OR DID/DID NOT abuse her discretion. The Commission directs staff to prepare a draft decision letter and final order consistent with the facts of the investigation pursuant to Wis. Stat. 5.06(6). The Commission will review the proposed draft at an upcoming meeting. Staff are also directed to revise the decision letter for Sipes v. Jeffreys (EL 26-12) to be consistent with the final order from this investigation, and bring a draft of that letter back for the Commission’s consideration at the same meeting.”

The memo asks the commissioner to direct staff on what to do next, or it could vote to the end the investigation.