Overview
- Dane County voted to challenge the Wisconsin Elections Commission’s directive that 23 Madison absentee votes be removed from the April election tally.
- Madison redid its canvass without those ballots, which do not change any race outcome, and the city has 30 days to decide whether to join the appeal.
- The ballots reached the Madison clerk the day before the election but were delivered to polling places after the 8 p.m. cutoff because a courier arrived late.
- Commissioners voted 5–1 after their lawyer said a 1985 change made the 8 p.m. rule mandatory, while one member argued voters should not lose their votes over a clerk’s error.
- In a separate ruling, Mequon and Ozaukee County were told to count five absentee ballots after the commission found the clerk used an unlawful standard for witness addresses.