Madison, Wis. – Wisconsin election clerks referred 30 instances of suspected fraud and voting irregularities to prosecutors over the last year, according to a new report.

The nation’s multilayered election processes provide many safeguards that keep voter fraud generally detectable and rare, according to current and former election administrators for the Democratic and Republican parties. America’s elections also are decentralized into thousands of independent voting jurisdictions – Wisconsin, alone, has more than 1,800 local clerks – making it almost impossible to pull off a large-scale vote-rigging operation that could tip a race. But fraud does happen occasionally.

Wisconsin law requires clerks to inform the Wisconsin Election Commission whenever they refer a case of suspected fraud or some other voting irregularity to a district attorney. The commission, in turn, is required to compile the data into an annual report to the Legislature. The commission is poised to approve a report Friday that lists referrals made between July 1, 2023, and Sept. 12 of this year.

Eighteen referrals involved someone voting twice. Clerks in Milwaukee County reported seven instances of someone voting twice during the 2024 spring election and eight instances in the 2023 spring election. In each election, those people voted absentee in-person and by absentee mail ballot, according to the report.

Clerks in Douglas and Kenosha counties also reported a person voting twice in the 2024 spring election. In the Douglas County case, the person voted in-person and in-person absentee. In the Kenosha County case, the person voted in-person in two different municipalities. Clerks in Calumet County reported that someone voted twice in-person absentee in the 2024 partisan primary.

Kenosha County clerks also reported six instances of a felon registering to vote during the 2024 spring election. Polk County clerks referred a case of someone who voted in Wisconsin in the 2023 spring election after registering in another state. Douglas County also referred discrepancies between municipal and county totals for write-in candidates in the 2024 spring election to prosecutors.

The report does not identify anyone and does not include case dispositions.

The commission’s 2023 report showed that clerks referred 44 cases of suspected fraud to district attorneys between June 25, 2022, and June 30, 2023.

Wisconsin’s voting-age population stood at almost 4.7 million as of 2022, according to the elections commission.

The Seattle Seahawks are finally on the losing end of a game this season following a 42-29 loss against the Detroit Lions at Ford Field.

After the loss, coach Mike Macdonald explained what the team would take away from the defeat as they look to move past it and get back to their winning ways.

“It’s two totally independent,” Macdonald said. “It just so happens it’s the same amount of points, but I think that’s probably the only thing in common, it’s the same mentality of ‘Hey, let’s look at how we’re doing things. How can we get incrementally better in all the processes? Coaches, how we organize things, how we walk through. Players, how we take meetings, how we communicate in meetings.’ Just how can we take incremental steps throughout the week to put ourselves in a position mentally so we can go out and play our best football, and then in the game how we’re communicating as coaches, how we adjust, all those things. I mean all those things around the table; we’ve talked about them. Unfortunately, this is creating an opportunity for us to really face those things head on and that’s what we’re going to do.”

This is the first loss in Macdonald’s head coaching career after grabbing wins in each of the first three weeks, making this unchartered territory for him and the Seahawks.

Now, the Seahawks get to show how they respond to a loss. If they can follow what Macdonald is preaching, they might be in a better position than when they were undefeated, because they can prove how they can pick themselves up after a loss.

The Seahawks are getting ready to face the New York Giants for their Week 6 matchup.

Executive director of the Forest Home Historic Preservation Association, Sara Tomilin, joins us to discuss the Spirits of the Silent City cemetery tour. Experience a 70 minute after-dark tour of Forest Home Cemetery, guided by professional actors portraying notable residents.
Visit Forest Home Cemetery and Arboretum to purchase tickets for October 11th, 12th, 18th and 19th.