For Immediate Release
Media Contact: Justin Giorgio
[email protected]
WISCONSIN – The bipartisan Democracy Defense Project – Wisconsin (DDP) Board Members – former Lt. Governor Mandela Barnes, former Attorney General JB Van Hollen, former U.S. Representative Scott Klug and former Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair Mike Tate – applaud a new Wisconsin Elections Commission (WEC) report covering missing absentee ballots in Madison. The report authored by bipartisan appointee condemns the “complete lack of leadership” in the city clerk’s office resulting in 193 ballots not being included in November’s vote total. This oversight has been documented in thousands of documents and more than a dozen depositions by the WEC and the bipartisan report released today shows just how thoroughly investigated this abdication of leadership was.
The members of DDP’s Wisconsin board released the below statement:
“Everyone in Wisconsin should sleep easier knowing just how thoroughly our elections are being vetted. This instance of 193 missing ballots, while a stain on the Madison City Clerk’s office, is an example of the vetting procedures in place working to verify every single vote cast in our elections. Municipal and county clerks across the state will benefit from the findings of this report, ensuring that no further ballots can fall through the cracks. Voters can rest assured, if this is the process in place to verify what happened to 193 absentee ballots, there is no feasible way that bad actors could thwart our election system to the tune of tens of thousands of ballots.”
About the Democracy Defense Project – Wisconsin
The Democracy Defense Project (DDP) is a new organization led by a bipartisan group of former elected officials and leaders across Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin who will work to defend the transparency, safety, security and validity of our nation’s electoral system. We will publicly defend those who have sworn to uphold the rule of law and to be an active voice against any individual or organization that would look to undermine lawful election processes and outcomes. The Democracy Defense Project – Wisconsin board includes former Lt. Governor Mandela Barnes, former Attorney General JB Van Hollen, former U.S. Representative Scott Klug and former Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair Mike Tate.
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More information on the Democracy Defense Project can be found at
https://www.democracydefenseproject.org/wi.
Published: Jul 11, 2025
