Clerks ask court for guidance on ballots with printing error
Last week, Outagamie County Clerk Lori O’Bright revealed about 13,500 ballots were printed and mailed with a nicking in one of the "timing marks," which allow the ballots to be counted by voting machines. Because of the error, the machines reject the ballot. The remedy announced was rejected ballots will be hand-duplicated by election inspectors. But because that can’t happen until election day, she warned the county would be delayed in getting results tabulated.
Voters do not have to take any action.
According to the 22-page filing by O’Bright and Calumet County Clerk Beth Hauser, state law calls making a "true duplicate" of the ballot so it can be counted as the mandatory remedy.
However, the clerks note that the Wisconsin Elections Commission suggested that being allowed to use ink to complete the timing mark -- rendering it readable by the machines -- could be a solution. But because the WEC didn’t offer any statutory authority for the move, the clerks ask the high court for a ruling on which method it should use.
Making duplicate ballots might need more than 2,300 hours of work to complete the work, they note -- but with a deadline of 4 p.m. the day after the election to report results, meeting that deadline is “implausible.”
“Based on the above arguments, petitioners respectfully request this Court take original jurisdiction of the his case and issue a declaratory judgement requiring Respondents to duplicate the defective ballots continue canvassing without adjournment until all valid ballots cast on or before the close of the polls on Election Day and that the 4 p.m. deadline imposed (in state law) is unconstitutional as applied in this case,” the clerks wrote.
The municipal clerks named as defendants in the lawsuit have until noon Tuesday to file a response, according to the clerk for the state Supreme Court.
The clerks in more than two dozen communities, including the city of Appleton, are named as respondents in the suit.
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