Madison Clerk’s Office Correcting Duplicate Ballots

For Immediate Release
September 23, 2024

The Madison Clerk’s Office is rectifying a data processing error that caused duplicate absentee ballots to be sent to around 2,000 voters. The error affected only an isolated number of voters and was quickly caught and corrected so that it will not affect any other ballots going forward.  

The Clerk’s office has been contacting voters individually to inform them of the error, caution them to submit only one ballot, and to destroy the second one to avoid any confusion. Because the duplicate ballot envelopes have identical barcodes, in the unlikely event that a voter submits two absentee ballots, only one can be counted. Once that envelope barcode is scanned, the voting system does not allow a ballot with the same barcode to be submitted. The voter is also marked in the poll book as having submitted their absentee ballot as another safeguard against the voter submitting a second ballot.

Voters with remaining questions about their ballot should feel free to contact the Clerk’s Office at 608-266-4601 or clerk@cityofmadison.com. Any other inquiries should be sent to City Communications Manager Dylan Brogan.  

Note: This release was updated to clarify that barcodes are on ballot envelopes.