Call for hearings following ballot confusion in Douglas County

(The Center Square) – The outgoing state representative in the town of Summit is asking for legislative hearings into the mix up that had people there voting in the wrong statehouse race.

Rep. Angie Sapik, R-Lake Nebagamon, on Wednesday called for an information hearing in front of the Assembly’s Committee on Campaigns and Elections because some voters were given ballots with the wrong Assembly district.

Sapik said the recent redistricting caused “confusion,” and had the clerk send the wrong ballots to some voters in the Assembly’s 73rd and 74th districts.

“The recent ballot error in the town of Summit is a serious issue. Fortunately, the primary election results in both Assembly Districts 73 and 74 were wide enough that the town of Summit results couldn’t have swayed the election. My concern is that residents of Summit may feel disenfranchised,” Sapik said Wednesday. “Had the election results been closer, we would be having a very different conversation.”

Douglas County Clerk Kaci Jo Lundgren was alerted the problem during Tuesday’s election and took full responsibility.

“My office is committed to transparency and accuracy. Our protocols will be thoroughly reviewed and any procedures that are identified that could eliminate this type of error in the future will be implemented,” Lundgren said in a statement.

Sapik said she’s spoken with Lundgren, and said they are both working to figure out what happened.

But Sapik said voters also need to know what happened and what’s being done to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

“It is imperative that we uphold integrity and our faith in our electoral system,” Sapik added. “Any sort of meetings, penalties, or actions for Douglas County will be made known to the public. That being said, we are all human and can make mistakes. Our job now is to make sure we have safeguards in place to assure this doesn’t happen again.”

Sapik represented the 73rd District in Douglas County but chose not to run for re-election.

She was, however, elected to the Douglas County Board on Tuesday. In fact, she was elected in two county board districts, both by write-in votes. The clerk’s office says she can only serve in one district, the one in which she lives, so they are going to have to see who will serve in the other district.