With the midterm elections right around the corner, Shawano City Clerk Lesley Nemetz is ready to make sure everything is on the up and up, despite growing calls across the country claiming elections are not free and fair.
Nemetz spoke with NEW Media on Oct. 21 about what the city of Shawano does to make sure there are not incidents like what happened in Green Bay, where duplicate ballots were sent out to voters. She also talked about the checks and balances in place to make sure ballots are all counted and that tallies are correct.
“There’s a lot of different steps,” Nemetz said. “Obviously, there’s the voter portion where people are coming in to register, we’re verifying their IDs, we’re verifying their proof of residency, all of those things. The voters have to attest that all of those things that they’re providing are accurate and legal.”
There is a statevide voter system in place that municipal clerks input the information when people register to vote. Having it in one location keeps everything secure and safe, Nemetz said.
Shawano decided in 2024 to utilize all paper ballots for elections instead of setting up electronic voting machines for voters to utilize. Nemetz said other municipalities give their voters the option of using either setup.
“The city used to have both types, but we went away from the electronic voting equipment a couple of years ago,” she said. “The state certifies only certain voting machines that tend to be utilized. The electronic voting machines that were available, we didn’t like how the output was at the end of the day.”
Nemetz added that while it had all of the things needed for elections, the machines made it difficult for her, staff and election workers to maintain adequate recordkeeping because Shawano has six polling districts in one location. It added time to tallying results, she said.
The city also utilizes a color-coding system used for each district, according to Nemetz, that makes it easier for voters to make sure they’re utilizing the correct ballot.
“That way, you get to the right table, you get the right ballot,” she said.
Paper ballots are inserted into a tallying machine, where the votes are tallied and making sure ballots have been marked correctly and there are no overvotes or undervotes.
“It’s just making sure everything is legit on their ballot, as well,” Nemetz said.
Once the polls close at 8 p.m., poll workers run reports from the machines that give the totals for each candidate. All of the ballots are pulled from the machine to verify the number of ballots that is being given on the machine.
“While one team is working on the machines, the other teams who have been there all day are reconciling their numbers,” Nemetz said. “Then we come together and take all of that and make sure what they’re saying is what we’re saying, and everybody matches. There’s checks and balances throughout the entire day.”
The voting tallies are sent to the Shawano County Clerk, where a canvass is done several days following the election, Nemetz said. That review provides additional checks and balances to prevent inaccuracies or fraud.
Once the county is done reviewing the data, it is sent to the Wisconsin Elections Commission.
“I know clerks get called into question about how they are operating,” Nemetz said. “I can only speak on what I do and what the city of Shawano does. There would have to be a whole lot of people willing to be dishonest.”
On average, there are 30 people working with Nemetz on Election Day, so it would take all of them willing to ignore any potential fraud for it to flourish, and even then, there are observers from both the Republicans and Democrats that watch how things are doing during the 13-hour election cycle. She said many of the poll workers for the city have worked with her in the 16 years she’s been with the clerk’s office.
“Sometimes, when things happen, and it gets in the news and you hear maybe a clerk sent out extra ballots, there are things that happen,” Nemetz said. “We put into place things that make sure we’re not sending out things that shouldn’t be so that we have a lot of internal checks.”
Only one person in Nemetz’s office can send out early ballots, and if someone requests another ballot, the employee voids the first ballot to eliminate any doubt of integrity. Voters can request to cancel early ballots up to the third one received, Nemetz said.
Other safeguards in place are requirements to test any voting machinery prior to Election Day, as well as continuing education requirements from the state to make sure municipalities are current on election laws. Nemetz said it’s very rare when there are major shifts in election procedures, but she and her staff make sure they are current on what needs to be done to execute free and fair elections.
“Thankfully, knock on wood, things go really smoothly here,” she said.
lpulaski@newmedia-wi.com
