Madison Reporter

The process of counting absentee ballots in Madison involves several steps to ensure accuracy and security. Once a voter returns their absentee ballot to the Clerk’s Office, it undergoes an initial check for completeness. The office verifies that the envelope is sealed and contains the necessary signatures and information from both the voter and a witness. Incomplete certificates result in the ballot being returned to the voter for correction.

If complete, the Clerk’s Office scans the envelope's barcode as “Returned,” allowing voters to track their ballot status online at https://MyVote.wi.gov. The sealed envelopes are then sorted by ward using a BlueCrest sorting machine, which was acquired with grant funds before the April Election to minimize errors in delivery.

On Election Day, packages of absentee ballots are securely transported to polling places. Poll workers verify each envelope's integrity and completeness before checking them against an ineligible voter list. Absentee voters are announced, checked into the poll book, and assigned sequential numbers documented on both the poll book and envelopes.

Ballots remain unopened until verification is complete. Poll workers then separate ballots from envelopes anonymously and ensure they can be read by tabulators. If necessary, damaged or unusually marked ballots are remade by teams of two poll workers who document matching numbers for original and duplicate ballots for potential recounts.

Absentee votes are processed only after polls open and included in election night results reported by each Madison ward. The City Clerk’s Office aims to ensure every eligible voter's ballot is counted accurately.

"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."