GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) — One Green Bay City Alderman wants to see Green Bay Clerk Celestine Jeffreys out of office.
It comes as the city takes heat for reportedly counting absentee ballots for Tuesday’s spring primary before 9 am after posting that they wouldn’t do so until 4 pm. Officials from the office of Green Bay Mayor Eric Genrich says that was due to a typo.
“It was either mismanagement and incompetence, or it was malfeasance, it was really one or the other,” said District 8 Alderman Chris Wery. “It certainly was not a simple typo.”
The issue was first reported by Republican poll watcher and Green Bay resident Matt Roeser, who showed up to central count at 8:30 in the morning and says that’s when he found that ‘close to a thousand’ absentee ballots had already been counted by Jeffreys and clerk’s office staff.
“One of the two parties that was wanting to be there all day to observe was told on multiple occasions that it would be at 4pm, verbally, by the clerk. So it wasn’t a simple typo,” said Wery.
The controversy is the third in a row for Green Bay election officials, who have been criticized for hours-long lines during the 2020 primary election, and taking outside money for the 2020 general election.
“We haven’t had this issue ever since I can remember,” said Wery. “I’ve been in office twenty years and it’s only been in the past two years that we’ve had this ridiculousness going on.”
Jeffreys, who previously worked as chief of staff for Mayor Eric Genrich, has been the city’s clerk since the resignation of Kris Teske in December of 2020. Teske left the job after protesting the handling of the 2020 general election in the city.
Other officials are also weighing in.
What is the city of Green Bay hiding? Elections there continue to be a mess. People need to be able to trust and depend on free & fair elections. Liberals running the city are failing to do that. We the people must demand secure, transparent elections!https://t.co/YKaNz5jozN
— Rebecca Kleefisch (@RebeccaforReal) February 16, 2022
Republican gubernatorial candidate and former Lt. Governor Rebecca Kleefisch reacted on Twitter, asking “What is the city of Green Bay hiding? Elections there continue to be a mess.”
Green Bay Democratic Assemblywoman Kristina Shelton reacted Wednesday, calling it a ‘minor mistake’.
“We know that the Green Bay Clerk’s office and the city here does a fantastic job running elections,” Shelton said. “There are going to be times when minor errors happen, but I think we have to keep that in the context of the larger body of work.”
Also reacting is Brown County GOP Chairman Jim Fitzgerald, who spoke Wednesday morning.
“With election integrity foremost on the mind of the voters of the City of Green Bay, the city clerk has once again demonstrated that she believes she’s above the law,” Fitzgerald told WTAQ.
Neither Jeffreys nor Genrich returned WTAQ’s request for comment as of press time, however Genrich did post the following to Twitter:
Apropos of something: maybe give decency a try—everyone deserves a little grace. That’s especially true of our elections staff in GB and around the state who have been laboring to uphold democracy in the face of a pandemic and a near constant barrage of demagogic attacks.
— Eric Genrich (@MayorGenrich) February 16, 2022
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