The Madison’s Clerk Office was alerted Monday of a data processing error causing around 2,000 duplicate mail-in ballots to be sent out, according to the press release. 

The city is advising recipients of the duplicate ballots to destroy the second one to ensure only one ballot is returned, but recipients should not worry about votes being lost or counted twice, City of Madison Communications Manager Dylan Brogan said.

“In the very unlikely event that two ballots are submitted by the same person, there’s a barcode [that] once scanned, [will] get rejected at the polls if it’s scanned again,” Brogan said.

Quickly alerting affected voters was essential, according to Brogan.

“The City of Madison takes transparency in its election process very seriously… as soon as we learned that this had happened, the clerk’s office immediately started individually contacting those 2000 voters to let them know what was going on and [made] sure that they were fully aware and informed about the situation,” Brogan said.

The need for transparency in election processes is a key factor in ensuring a fair election, as real transparency leads to government accountability, according to the Campaign Legal Center.

Transparent processes encourage citizen participation and strengthen democracy, according to the National Association of Secretaries of State. Transparency measures, such as clear communication about voting procedures and timely reporting of election results, are essential in preventing misinformation and promoting voter engagement. 

The main issue of duplicate ballots is potential confusion among voters regarding which ballot to submit and how. In general, vast security measures are taken to ensure no vote is counted twice and provide accurate information about election infrastructure, according to American Cyber Defense Agency. 

In light of this incident, the Clerk’s Office has also decided to cease file merging processes contributing to the error, reinforcing the city’s commitment to preventing future occurrences. Transparency and proactive communication are vital in ensuring every voter feels informed and secure in their participation in the electoral process, according to Brogan.

Voters with remaining questions about their ballots or the voting process can contact the Clerk’s Office at 608-266-4601 or via email at [email protected].