Green Bay Clerk Faces Second State Probe After Duplicate Ballots

Green Bay City Clerk Celestine Jeffreys faces her second Wisconsin Elections Commission investigation in three months after her office mailed duplicate absentee ballots to voters for the August primary. Voters across the city now wonder whether their ballots will count correctly when they head to the polls in weeks. The commission found probable cause earlier this month that she violated state law by issuing duplicate ballots during the April election.

Wisconsin's third-largest city confronts a pattern of election administration failures that threatens voter confidence just weeks before the August primary and November midterms. The duplicate ballot incidents expose systemic dysfunction in a city where progressive governance and DEI hiring have captured election administration. Law violations recur without consequence.

The WEC voted unanimously July 9 to investigate both the April and June incidents after finding probable cause Jeffreys violated Wisconsin statutes 7.15 and 6.86(1)(ar) by mailing duplicate ballots to 152 voters this spring. Commissioner Ann Jacobs, a Democratic appointee, called the recurrence "unconscionable."

"I am really concerned that, first of all, it happened once," Jacobs said. "But for the exact same error to happen a second time, weeks later, it is unconscionable. We need as an organization to investigate exactly what was going on in Green Bay."

At least 244 extra ballots were sent across eight wards for the August primary, representing 15 percent of the city's 52 wards. The city attributed both incidents to "certificate label printing errors." The WisVote system contains built-in fail-safes that should prevent duplicate ballot printing.

This marks another election law violation for Jeffreys, adding to a growing pattern of administrative failures. The WEC found probable cause in December 2023 that she violated Wisconsin law by accepting absentee ballots from voters reported as "sick" without disability verification. A Brown County Circuit Court judge ruled in January 2024 that Jeffreys' disorderly conduct citation against Republican poll observer Janet Angus was "retaliatory."

Jeffreys admitted in a May 2024 WEC filing that she was not following Wisconsin election law "due to a lack of awareness" regarding Election Day registration audits. Matt Roeser, a Green Bay resident who filed a WEC complaint against Jeffreys in 2022, described her hostility toward observers. "She ran out to the university and looked at us with daggers in her eyes."

Mayor Eric Genrich appointed Jeffreys, his former chief of staff, in January 2021. The previous clerk, Kris Teske, resigned effective December 31, 2020, following a contentious election year marked by disputes with the mayor's office over election planning. Jeffreys worked with left-wing voter rights groups tied to the CTCL network during that election, when Green Bay received $1.6 million in grants from the Zuckerberg-funded organization.

Genrich placed Jeffreys on administrative leave July 9 but maintained contradictory positions. "Elections are a critical piece of the work we perform at the City," he stated. "While we have no concerns with the security or propriety of the electoral process, these errors in the Clerk's Office are unacceptable."

State Rep. Shae Sortwell, R-Two Rivers, questioned the mayor's inaction. "Just wondering when the complete incompetence of Green Bay municipal clerk to be able to properly run an election will result in the Mayor doing his job by asking the City Council to fire his appointee," he wrote.

The city argued in its WEC filing that no election law violation occurred in April because no absentee ballot was counted more than once. The Public Interest Legal Foundation rejected that reasoning in a July 13 letter demanding Jeffreys' removal.

"Mistakes have followed mistakes, and Clerk Jeffreys has ignored the law, over and over," PILF President J. Christian Adams wrote to Genrich and city aldermen.

The Green Bay City Council voted 7-4 in July 2024 to retain left-leaning legal firms Law Forward, States United Democracy Center and Stafford Rosenbaum for election matters. The Protection and Policy Committee unanimously replaced a planned independent audit with a request for the Law Department to present the WEC reports at the August 18 council meeting on July 13.

Brown County GOP Chairman Doug Reich criticized the city's handling of the recurring election issues. "It's not an 'oops.' There's a long track record of this," Reich said. "It's up to the mayor's office and the city council to remove her from that position and hold her accountable, and when that fails to happen we're supposed to have WEC do it."

Jeffreys must submit a detailed explanation of both duplications by July 31, including software, procedures and third-party vendor information. She must provide a prevention plan by August 14.

The WEC's draft analysis states plainly: "At no time should there be two identical 'live' ballots issued to the same elector." Former Brown County Clerk Sandy Juno, who reviewed the case, concluded Jeffreys lacks the competence for the position. "My personal opinion, and being a clerk and in the clerk's office for a number of years, is this is not a job that's fit for this clerk," Juno said.

Republican Party of Wisconsin Chair Brian Schimming called for decisive action. "WEC must act decisively to identify the root causes, hold Clerk Jeffreys accountable, and implement safeguards so that this doesn't happen a third time," he said. "Voters deserve elections they can trust."

With Wisconsin's August primary weeks away and the November midterm election following closely, the commission's response will determine whether Green Bay's election chaos spreads statewide. The city's pattern of hiring progressive administrators, ignoring election law violations, and defending them with left-leaning legal firms has created a system where accountability depends entirely on state regulators.

WisGOP spokesperson Anika Rickard summarized the stakes: "Green Bay voters deserve reliable elections, not repeated failures that undermine trust. WEC must hold the clerk accountable, investigate, and ensure these issues are fixed before November. One voter, one ballot. Wisconsin law demands nothing less."