Almost 200 absentee ballots in Madison went uncounted during the November election, the Madison Clerk's Office announced Thursday.
During post-election clean-up and reconciliation, officials discovered 193 ballots had not been processed from Wards 56, 65 and 68. The number of ballots was not enough the affect the outcome of any races on the ballot in these areas, the Clerk's Office said.
Clerk's Office staff discovered the first round of uncounted ballots on Nov. 12, a week after Election Day, according to a statement from Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway. Personnel were emptying out tabulator bins for Ward 65 and found a sealed courier bag with 68 unprocessed ballots -- 67 of them from Ward 65 and one from Ward 68.
On Dec. 5, nearly a month after Election Day, the Clerk's Office found an additional 125 unprocessed ballots from Ward 56. These were found between two sealed envelopes during the election reconciliation process for the ward, which is when election officials compare vote counts and log voter participation in WisVote.
The Wisconsin Elections Commission certified results of the election on Nov. 29, and Clerk's Office emailed the commission on Dec. 18 to inform them of the uncounted ballots, according to Rhodes-Conway's statement.
The mayor also said her office was not informed of the incident until Dec. 20.
"While the discovery of these unprocessed absentee ballots did not impact the results of any election or referendum, a discrepancy of this magnitude is unacceptable," Rhodes-Conway said. "This oversight is a significant departure from the high standard our residents expect and must be addressed and avoided in future elections."
The Clerk's Office said it will individually contact each affected voter to notify them and apologize. For future elections, the office also said every polling location will receive a list of the seal numbers for absentee ballot envelopes, so they can be verified as ballots are counted.