Class-action lawsuit filed against Madison over 193 uncounted November ballots

Four Madison voters have launched a class-action lawsuit seeking $175,000 each because the city clerk’s office failed to count their ballots in the November presidential election. The liberal law firm representing them says there is “a price to pay” when voters are disenfranchised.

The lawsuit comes amid a Wisconsin Elections Commission investigation into why 193 ballots were misplaced on Election Day and weren’t reported to the commission until Dec. 18.

Liberal firm Law Forward is representing the four voters and asking for $175,000 in damages for each of them. State law caps damages to $50,000, which the lawsuit claims is unconstitutional.

Speaking to reporters, attorney and Law Forward co-founder Jeff Mandell said the lawsuit is not an attack on any individual or municipality.

“It is instead a necessary and important defense of the right to vote in Wisconsin,” Mandell said.

Fellow Law Forward attorney Scott Thompson said it doesn’t appear the clerk’s office engaged in any type of “coordinated anti-democracy effort.”

“But our message today should resonate with anyone who seeks to disrupt Wisconsin’s votes, absentee ballots or otherwise,” Thompson said. “If anyone takes steps to violate a Wisconsinites’ right to vote, there is a price to pay.”

In a statement, Madison communications manager Dylan Brogan said the city “takes election integrity extremely seriously and the clerk’s office has issued a public apology and reached out to each affected voter directly.”

“They have also taken a number of steps to ensure this never happens again,” Brogan said. “Ahead of the February primary, election officials were trained on new safeguards and procedures for handling absentee ballots. Internal review of the incident is still underway, and additional steps may be taken.”

Mandell and Thompson said as the lawsuit proceeds, all 193 affected voters could theoretically receive money from the city. If a court were to agree to lift the cap on damages, the total price could reach nearly $33.8 million.

In January, the state elections commission launched an investigation into what WEC Chair Ann Jacobs called an “egregious” error and questioned why it took more than six weeks for the Madison clerk’s office to report it, while acknowledging the 193 uncounted ballots wouldn’t have changed the outcome of any of any race or referendum.

When the commission meets again Friday, it will discuss whether to take further action.

A summary of findings thus far shows commission staff still have questions about how the error happened and offered potential actions for the six-member board overseeing the elections commission. Those include continuing the investigation to determine whether the Madison clerk abused their discretion or failed to follow state law, draft a decision or issue a statewide communication to clerks on best practices.