Green Bay City Clerk Claims Ignorance of Election Law to Justify Voter Registration Violations

Residents cast their ballots during in-person absentee voting at City Hall in Green Bay, Wisconsin, on Nov. 4, 2022. Scott Olson/Getty Images

Based on her admission, Green Bay City Clerk Celestine Jeffreys, a Democrat, has not been following the recommendations of the Wisconsin Election Commission (WEC) or obeying Wisconsin election law.

Last month, she formally admitted to the WEC in a legal filing that she has not been conducting thorough investigations into all voters with undeliverable election day registration (EDR) postcards, nor has she been inactivating the voters’ registrations or referring their names to the district attorney, as required by statute.

Ms. Jeffreys claims in the filing that “she was unaware that she was required to do each of these things.” She promised the WEC that she would do better.

“Clerk Jeffreys has admitted not only that she was not following Wisconsin election law, but that she did not know the law. There is no excuse for election officials not knowing the laws and rules. Clerk Jeffreys is derelict in her duty to enforce Wisconsin’s election laws,” said J. Christian Adams, president of the Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF), a non-profit law firm that initiated the complaint against Ms. Jeffreys on behalf of three Green Bay registered voters.

The PILF asked the WEC to order Ms. Jeffreys to follow Wisconsin statutes and the WEC’s guidance on EDR, a directive that Ms. Jeffreys did not oppose.

The WEC has not made a determination in the case and did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Vote Now, Verify Later

In Wisconsin, people can show up at the polls on election day, register, vote, and have their votes counted before the addresses they presented are verified.

As a belated safeguard, Wisconsin law requires the WEC to mail postcards to the addresses provided by EDR voters as a post-election attempt to verify their validity. The address verification process is completed after their votes are counted and certified.

Undeliverable postcards are returned to the municipal clerk’s office for investigation. If no typographical error is found and no problem on the part of the Postal Service explains why the postcard was not delivered, the EDR voter is assigned inactive voter status, and the clerk is mandated to refer the undeliverable card to the district attorney for possible criminal prosecution.

Continuing Conflict

This is not Ms. Jefferys’ first conflict with election integrity activists. Early in her tenure as city clerk, a complaint was filed with the WEC against her for allowing third parties to return absentee ballots for people who did not qualify under Wisconsin law for such assistance.

The WEC found in favor of the complainant but did not issue any sanctions against Ms. Jeffreys.

On April 5, 2022, a poll watcher correctly objected to Ms. Jeffreys that an individual had improperly dropped off more than one voted absentee ballot in violation of Wisconsin law.

On April 20, the poll watcher filed a complaint with the WEC against Ms. Jeffreys over the impermissible conduct.

In May, the Green Bay Police Department began an investigation into the behavior of the poll watcher during the dispute with Ms. Jeffreys.

Shortly thereafter, the poll watcher was charged with disorderly conduct and was convicted by a municipal court.

Upon appeal, a circuit court judge reviewed a video of the incident and found the poll watcher had not behaved in a disorderly fashion and called the criminal action brought by the county clerk against the observer “retaliatory.”

Just before the Nov. 2022 midterm election, Ms. Jeffreys’ was forced to change her election administration practices when she was sued by the Republican National Committee and four Wisconsin residents for not allowing poll watchers to observe all public aspects of in-person early absentee voting at city hall.

Ms. Jeffreys was appointed city clerk on January 19, 2021, following the resignation of the former clerk and deputy clerk in the heat of the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election. She had previously served as chief of staff for current Mayor Eric Genrich, a Democrat.

While serving under Mayor Genrich, Ms. Jeffreys worked to improve accessibility to voting during the COVID-19 pandemic by helping to bring ballot drop boxes to Green Bay for use in the 2020 election. Drop boxes were later declared to be illegal by the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

Ms. Jeffreys did not respond to a request for comment.