Former City Clerk Maribeth Witzel-Behl abused her discretion as a lead supervisor and acted “contrary to the law” on five counts while managing last November’s election, according to a months-long investigation by state election officials.
The Wisconsin Elections Commission concluded its investigation of the city and Witzel-Behl over nearly 200 absentee ballots that went uncounted last year in three wards. Then the six-member commission discussed the findings and recommended actions at its meeting Thursday.
The commission voted to give the City Clerk’s Office and acting clerk Michael Haas until Aug. 7 to review its recommendations for how Madison administer future elections. Commissioners ordered the city to develop a plan to ensure each election official is aware of their roles and responsibilities, establish a clearer process for handling absentee ballots, and outline a specific section about processing absentee ballots, which doesn’t currently exist.
The commission’s chair, Ann Jacobs, and Commissioner Don Millis began had conducted interviews with city and county elections officials beginning in March. The commission voted to continue the investigation in May after questions lingered over Witzel-Behl’s actions.
The investigation ultimately determined Witzel-Behl failed to appropriately address the missing ballots while on vacation and ensure a clear process for handling absentee ballots in general.
In a 400-page document, the commission’s investigation outlines a timeline of the events leading up to the discovery of the missing ballots and argues Witzel-Behl should have done more to communicate the oversight and to safeguard against future errors.
“As soon as the city clerk had been made aware of the uncounted ballots, she should have notified the city attorney, the County Board of Canvassers, and the (state) commission. She should have examined the remaining wards to ensure that all other ballots had been counted. She should have launched an investigation of her office’s procedures to determine how the ballots went uncounted. She should have identified contributing factors and taken immediate steps to correct them. The city clerk did none of these things, and that complete abdication of legal responsibility as municipal clerk was contrary to law,” the document says.
The missing 193 absentee ballots were in three sealed envelopes inside courier bags found within electronic counting machines, also known as tabulators. State elections officials say the votes that went uncounted weren’t enough to change the outcome of any local, state or national election, but the errors put Madison’s elections practices and Witzel-Behl under a microscope.
“There was a complete lack of leadership in the City Clerk’s Office. It was the job of the city clerk to immediately take action once notified about the found ballots, and she did nothing. It was the responsibility of the deputy clerk to take action in her absence, and he did nothing. These ballots were treated as unimportant and a reconciliation nuisance, rather than as the essential part of our democracy they represent,” the document says.
In March, a law firm set in motion a $34 million class action lawsuit against the city for failing to count the 193 ballots. A week later, Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway placed Witzel-Behl on administrative leave pending the city’s investigation into the missing ballots and “other aspects of her performance.”
Witzel-Behl resigned from her position the following month.
According to emails obtained by the Cap Times under open records laws, several Madison poll workers told Rhodes-Conway after the April 1 election that they had been impressed with Witzel-Behl’s leadership. Some called on Rhodes-Conway to reinstate Witzel-Behl, too.
In emails to Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway, nearly a dozen poll workers commended Maribeth Witzel-Behl, shown here in 2020, for her leadership as city clerk for almost 20 years.
Laura Gottlieb was a poll worker at one of the three wards where the ballots went uncounted, Ward 65. She attributed the mishandling of ballots to human error and said Witzel-Behl was treated “extremely harsh” given the breadth of duties the City Clerk’s Office handles.
“Particularly in the contentious environment that we live in now, where we’re always worried that, you know, the results of the elections will be questioned, it makes the pressure just so much greater for their office,” Gottlieb told the Cap Times.
Gottlieb said she has advocated for additional funding for the City Clerk’s Office and wrote to the law firm suing the city in support of Witzel-Behl’s leadership, calling the former clerk a “model of diplomacy, conscientiousness, intelligence, patience, competence and diligence.”
Another poll worker, Marilyn Weiss, reinforced the tension of Election Day last year, citing the abundance of absentee voters. In an email to Rhodes-Conway obtained by the Cap Times, Weiss commended Witzel-Behl for her leadership over the years.
“As chief inspector for Ward 4, I can't say how much we depend on the clerk's office for support and leadership. Having said all that, it is really Maribeth Witzel-Behl, whose firm and calm guidance over the last many years, who has made our difficult tasks easier,” Weiss wrote.
“We understand problems occur and mistakes are sometimes made — no matter how much everyone tries to be perfect — but Maribeth has been a wonderful and successful leader, making sense of sometimes highly political situations,” Weiss added.
Witzel-Behl could not be reached for comment and has declined previous requests for comment on her handling of the November election.
