Former Green Bay clerk broke election law, elections commission says, tell me about this news in (https://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/story/news/politics/elections/2026/09/09/former-green-bay-clerk-broke-law-abused-discretion-in-ballot-error/91673758007/)
09-09-2026
The Wisconsin Elections Commission found that former Green Bay City Clerk Celestine Jeffreys broke state election law and abused her discretion by mistakenly sending duplicate absentee ballots to voters in consecutive elections.Key Details of the Decision
- The Violations: The commission concluded that Jeffreys acted contrary to state law and committed an abuse of discretion. Commission findings noted that record-keeping was so deficient that the clerk’s office could not precisely determine how many duplicate ballots had been mailed ahead of the August primary (estimates ranged between 244 and 390 ballots).
- The Incidents:
- Ahead of the April 2026 election, the city mistakenly mailed duplicate ballots to at least 152 voters after address labels were printed twice.
- Ahead of the August 2026 primary, the same label-printing error recurred, resulting in hundreds more duplicate ballots being sent out while the initial state complaint was still pending.
- Fallout and Resignation: Following the second incident, Jeffreys was placed on administrative leave in July 2026 and officially resigned in early August after city and state investigations highlighted her direct role in the printing errors.
- Impact on the Vote Count: Election officials confirmed that safeguards functioned properly and only one ballot per eligible voter was counted in either election, preventing any double-counting of votes.
- Corrective Actions: Green Bay election officials have revised their administrative proceduresincluding requiring second-person verification and using standardized state system processes for printing ballot labelsto prevent duplicate mailings in future elections.