Wittenberg Village Clerk Traci Matsche gave the Wittenberg Village Board the good news Nov. 19 that the village had its highest turnout ever for an election.
The bad news is that the village has to go through an election audit.
Matsche reported that 461 people voted in the presidential election held Nov. 5. She noted that it took a lot of effort to get everything balanced with that many people casting ballots.
“I had to get help from Erica (Davel) at the county,” Matsche said. “I have never had to do that before. It was a pain in the butt to get it balanced. After the election is over, it’s not for the clerks until they get everything balanced out.”
Sixty-four people registered to vote on Election Day, which further complicated things, according to Matsche.
“We had a problem with a machine jamming, so we don’t know if that’s why we were off one,” she said.
Board member Marlene Wepner agreed there were things off with numbers.
“I was voter 301, but when I put my ballot in, I was 300,” Wepner said. “I saw there was a guy still filling his out, so I thought, maybe he’ll be 301.”
Matsche has no explanation for the discrepancy, noting the numbers matched for most of the morning, and then they were off by one.
Matsche noted that all municipalities get audited at some point, but Wittenberg’s is occurring after its biggest election in a four-year cycle.
“Right in the middle of tax season and Thanksgiving,” Matsche said.
She pointed out that the results are not being audited, because that’s already done by Shawano County. Instead, the audit is on Wittenberg’s election machines and that the results match what poll workers tallied.
“We’re going to be doing them by hand, me and another person,” Matsche said. “From Birnamwood, I found out, because they’ve already been through it, it takes about four hours. They’re about equal to us as far as the responses.”
The village will receive payment for the audit, which compensates Matsche and anyone else auditing the results for their work. She said it’s a $50 flat fee plus 35 cents per ballot counted. That will come out to about $80 per person.
“Sometimes little glitches happen, and then you’ve got to figure out what they are,” Matsche said.
Matsche, who plans to retire in 2027, noted that her replacement will have to handle the next presidential election in 2028.
“I’m glad I don’t ever have another presidential election to do in my life,” Matsche said.
lpulaski@newmedia-wi.com
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