23 Late Madison Ballots Could Spark Fight

Twenty-three Madison absentee ballots that reached four polling places after 8 p.m. on April 7 are still in the count, and Republicans are signaling a court fight. (wisconsinwatch.org) The ballots had arrived at the Madison clerk’s office on Monday, April 6, and a city courier left an election facility around 6:30 p.m. on Election Day to deliver ballots to 17 polling places. The last stop was reached about 8:30 p.m., leaving 23 ballots delivered after the statutory deadline. (wisconsinwatch.org) Wisconsin law says an absentee ballot must be delivered to the polling place by 8 p.m. on Election Day, and Madison’s own voter guidance says mailed absentee ballots must be received by that hour. Polls in Madison also close at 8 p.m. (docs.legis.wisconsin.gov, cityofmadison.com, cityofmadison.com) Madison election officials told poll workers to count the ballots anyway and mark them so higher authorities could later decide whether to exclude them. The Madison Board of Canvassers then voted unanimously on April 10 to keep them in the tally. (wisconsinwatch.org) The Dane County Board of Canvassers followed on April 13 with a 2-1 vote to count the same 23 ballots. Dane County Clerk Scott McDonell voted yes, while canvasser Mike Willett voted no, saying the board had previously rejected late-arriving ballots and he did not want to create exceptions. (wisconsinwatch.org, wausaupilotandreview.com) The Republican Party of Wisconsin, through attorney Daniel Suhr, urged local officials not to count the ballots before Madison’s canvass vote. The party argued the deadline in state law controls even if the voters themselves did nothing wrong. (wisconsinwatch.org) City Clerk Lydia McComas said the ballots were “correctly, legally cast” and that the problem was delivery after polls closed, not voter error. Wisconsin election lawyers quoted by Votebeat said courts have sometimes allowed officials to count ballots when the voter complied and the mistake was administrative. (civicmedia.us, wisconsinwatch.org) The dispute lands in Madison less than 18 months after the city failed to count 193 absentee ballots in the November 2024 election. A Dane County judge ruled in February 2026 that a lawsuit over those missing ballots can move forward, rejecting Madison’s effort to end the case early. (wpr.org) That earlier failure led to a state investigation, the resignation of former clerk Maribeth Witzel-Behl in April 2025, and the hiring of McComas in September 2025. The April 7, 2026 election was the first high-turnout election run under the new clerk. (fox11online.com, dailycardinal.com) The 23 ballots are too few to change the statewide Wisconsin Supreme Court result, where Chris Taylor defeated Maria Lazar by more than 300,000 votes on April 7. The next question is whether a court or state election officials treat Madison’s late delivery as a voter problem, a clerk problem, or a ballot-counting problem. (apnews.com, wisconsinwatch.org)