RNC Falsely Claims Wisconsin Sent 1,000 Absentee Ballots to Ineligible Voters
The Republican National Committee (RNC) sent a letter to the Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC) on Thursday alleging that clerks in the Badger State sent more than 1,000 absentee ballots to ineligible voters.
The RNC’s accusations claim that hundreds of deceased voters received absentee ballots and “that number [is] growing exponentially by the day.” The RNC said the absentee ballot data was provided by the WEC and lists that 1,208 voters in “inactive status” requested ballots — including 456 deceased people — and that 1,033 ballots were sent out to people on that list.
But Ann Jacobs, the chair of the WEC, refuted the RNC’s claims. In a thread posted on X, Jacobs said, “there’s a lot of nonsense going around twitterland” regarding the RNC’s letter. “Wisconsin did NOT send absentee ballots to inactive or dead voters,” she wrote. “The RNC (surprise!) doesn’t understand its own data or how Wisconsin’s state-wide voter registration database works!”
What happened, as Jacobs explained on X and in a letter sent in response to the RNC, was that the RNC “examined records where a voter’s status changed to inactive after the ballot was requested.” When this happens, according to Jacobs, the ballot is always rendered void and shows a ballot status of inactive. “An inactive ballot is void and cannot be counted if returned.”
Because voters can request an absentee ballot for the entire year, things may happen between the time they requested a ballot and the time of the election. It’s up to the election clerks to follow-up to ensure that the voter who previously requested a ballot is still an active voter. If not, they’re marked as inactive in the WEC’s database, which is what the RNC was incorrectly interpreting in their letter.
“So what the RNC’s false claim really says is that our clerks are doing a great job of keeping the voting rolls up to date!” Jacobs said. “We WANT this! What we don’t want is the RNC making false claims about information they don’t understand and decided to publicize instead of ask about.”