How Absentees Get Counted

What happens to your absentee ballot once you return it to the Clerk’s Office?

First the Clerk’s Office checks that the envelope is sealed and has the voter signature, witness signature, witness name, and witness address. If the certificate on the envelope is not complete, the office scans the envelope as “Sent to Voter for Resolution,” and mails the absentee back to the voter for completion.

If the certificate is complete, the Clerk’s Office scans the barcode on the envelope as “Returned.” Voters can verify that their ballot is returned by looking up their name and date-of-birth at https://MyVote.wi.gov.

Absentee envelopes remain sealed. They are sorted by ward for delivery to the polls. This sorting used to be done manually by poll workers, but now is done by a BlueCrest sorting machine purchased with grant funds prior to the April Election. The machine will reduce errors, ensuring absentees are sent to the correct polling place.

Packages of absentees are prepared for each ward, sealed in envelopes with tamper evident seals bearing unique serial numbers. On Election Day, these envelopes of absentees are secured in courier bags with another tamper evident seal bearing a unique serial number. A poll worker signs an oath and a chain-of-custody form, then delivers the courier bag and chain-of-custody to the polling place.

At the polls, poll workers verify that each absentee certificate envelope is sealed, and that each certificate is complete. They check each absentee voter’s name against the ineligible voter list. The poll workers check three to five absentee voters into the poll book at a time, announcing each absentee voter’s name and address. Each absentee voter is assigned a sequential voter slip number at the poll book. The voter slip number is documented on the poll book and on the absentee envelope.

Absentee envelopes are not opened until they have been checked into the poll book and assigned a voter number. Poll workers separate the ballots from the envelopes so they do not know who marked which ballot. They check that the ballots will be able to be read by the tabulator. They insert the ballots into the tabulator to be counted.

Ballots marked with green or red ink, and ballots that are torn need to be remade by poll workers. Ballots that are creatively marked – the voter circles their candidate or draws a star by their candidate’s name instead of filling in the oval – must be remade by poll workers. A team of two poll workers remakes these ballots to reflect the voter’s intent. The ballots are given matching numbers (Original Ballot #1 lines up with Duplicate Ballot #1). The original ballot marked by the voter is secured in an envelope so it can be compared to the remade ballot in a recount.

Absentees are not processed or assigned voter numbers until the polls open. Absentee votes are included in the results reported by each Madison ward on election night.

The goal of the City Clerk’s Office is that each eligible voter will be able to cast a ballot and have that ballot counted.