MADISON, Wis. (AP) 鈥 The mailing of about 2,200 duplicate absentee ballots in Wisconsin's heavily Democratic capital city of Madison has led a Republican member of Congress to falsely suggest that the clerk was lying about the presence of barcodes on the ballots themselves.
Ballots in Wisconsin do not contain barcodes. Envelopes that absentee ballots are returned in do contain barcodes so the voter can track their ballot to ensure it was received. The barcodes also allow election officials to ensure that the same voter does not cast a ballot in-person on Election Day.
An initial statement on Monday from Madison Clerk Maribeth Witzel-Behl did not specify that it was the envelopes, not the ballots, that contain the barcodes. The statement posted on the clerk's website was later updated to specify that the barcodes were on the envelopes, not the ballots.
Republican Rep. Tom Tiffany, a strong supporter of Donald Trump whose northern Wisconsin district does not include Madison, posted a picture of an absentee ballot on the social platform X to show there was no barcode.
鈥淢y office has proof that there is no barcode on the actual ballots,鈥 Tiffany posted on Wednesday. 鈥淗ere is a picture of the absentee ballots 鈥 NO BARCODE.鈥
He also called for an investigation.
By Thursday morning his post had more than 1.6 million views.
Tiffany later took credit for the clerk changing the wording on her initial statement.
鈥淲hy do they keep editing their statements and press releases?鈥 Tiffany posted.
Madison city spokesperson Dylan Brogan said Thursday that he altered the wording of the statement for clarity before Tiffany questioned it by 鈥減arsing apart sentences.鈥
鈥淭he City routinely updates its website to provide as much clarity as possible,鈥 Brogan said.
He called the mailing of duplicate absentee ballots 鈥渁 simple mistake that we immediately rectified and it will have no impact on the election.鈥
鈥淭here are safeguards in place,鈥 Brogan said. 鈥淭he system worked.鈥
Ann Jacobs, the Democratic chair of the Wisconsin Elections Commission, rebuked Tiffany on X.
鈥淚 can鈥檛 tell if this is just profound lack of knowledge or the intentional farming of outrage,鈥 she posted. 鈥淏oth, by the way, are bad.鈥
Democratic U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore also responded to Tiffany's post by telling him to 鈥渒nock it off.鈥
鈥淭his is misinformation,鈥 she posted on X. 鈥淵ou and I both have voted with absentee ballots in Wisconsin. You just did in the Aug 13 primary, and in 4 of the last 5 elections. We owe it to the people of Wisconsin to not spread falsehoods about election security.鈥
The clerk said in her response to Tiffany that 2,215 duplicate ballots were sent before the error was caught on Monday. No duplicate ballots have been returned, Witzel-Behl said. Once a ballot is received and the envelope barcode is scanned, if a second ballot is returned it will not be counted, she said.
鈥淚 would simply note that elections are conducted by humans and occasionally human error occurs,鈥 she wrote to Tiffany. 鈥淲hen errors occur, we own up to them, correct them as soon as possible, and are transparent about them 鈥 precisely as we have done here.鈥
The dustup in battleground Wisconsin comes as there is over how elections are run, particularly in swing states that are likely to decide the winner of the presidential election. Trump lost Wisconsin in 2020. Nearly four years later, surrounding the 2020 election and of widespread fraud persist. Trump , despite of widespread fraud, that he won that election as he seeks a return to the White House.
President Joe Biden鈥檚 win over Trump in Wisconsin ordered by Trump, including one involving the city of Madison, , a review by a Republican law firm and numerous lawsuits.
