Question: I have heard about ballot ‘curing’ and ‘spoiled’ ballots. What do those terms refer to?

Answer: Curing can refer to two different processes for a ballot. The first process takes place pre-election day in the City Clerk’s Office, which will be referred to as Absentee Ballot curing, and the second process takes place on Election Day by Election Day Officials, which will be referred to as Ballot curing.

Absentee Ballot curing is the process by which the Clerk’s Office uses to ensure an absentee ballot envelope which was returned, but is incomplete, is corrected so that the ballot inside can be counted. Incomplete can mean missing the voter signature, witness signature, witness printed name, or witness address (or in the case of overseas absentee voters the voter’s date of birth). This is done by the Clerk’s office reaching out to the voter directly by phone call, email, or letter to have the missing information added by the voter or their witness, or by spoiling the ballot and redoing the absentee ballot process altogether. It should be noted that during this pre-election day process no ballot envelope is opened by the Clerk’s Office, and no ballot is viewed.

Spoiling a ballot before election day is done by a voter who has requested an absentee ballot, the voter themselves must contact the City Clerk’s Office to start the spoiling process. It can be done for various reasons: 1. Voter did not receive the mailed ballot, and wants a new one mailed, 2. Voter made a mistake on the ballot, and would like a new one, 3. The ballot was damaged, and the voter would like a new one. Spoiling always results in the previous ballot being destroyed and a new ballot taking its place. Each voter only gets one ballot that counts in an election, but State law gives every voter up to 3 ballots total for the spoiling process. It should be noted that again during this pre-election day process no ballot envelope is opened by the Clerk’s Office, and no ballot is viewed.

Poll workers can also cure a ballot on Election Day through the spoiling and remaking process. This is an automatic process used primarily for absentee ballots, but it may also be used in limited circumstances where a voter has completed a ballot, the ballot is not being accepted by the tabulator, and the voter is not present.

If the voter is present, they will be asked whether they would like to spoil their ballot and remake it themselves.

When the process is administered by poll workers, the ballot is taken by the Chief Election Inspector (the person in charge of the polling location on Election Day), who will assign two other Election Officials (poll workers) to remake the ballot. Whenever possible, the Chief will assign one poll worker from each political party (for example, one Democrat and one Republican). If that is not possible, the task will be assigned to two unaffiliated individuals.

Those individuals will note the ballot spoilage on the ballot itself, and the Chief will record it in the Election Day incident log. The two assigned workers will then obtain a new ballot and copy each vote cast on the spoiled ballot onto the new one.

There are cases where the error stems from a voter voting twice in the same contest — for example, one vote for John Smith (Democratic State Senate candidate) and one vote for John Doe (Republican State Senate candidate). In such cases, the voter’s intent must be ascertained by examining how they voted on the rest of the ballot — whether they consistently voted for Republicans or Democrats. No additional votes will be added during this process.

The remade ballot will then be fed through the tabulator by the two assigned workers and counted as normal.

List of Election Resources

• How to Vote Absentee In-Person https://myvote.wi.gov/en-us/Vote-Absentee-In-Person

• Check your polling location, your registration status and more at www.myvote.wi.gov

• Visit the City website to learn about early voting, polling locations and more at https://www.menomonie-wi.gov/189/Elections

• November 3 election Sample Ballot (City-by ward)

• Dunn County Clerk: dunncountywi.gov/countyclerk

• For info on candidates (those who have submitted info): vote411.org

• League of Women Voters Greater Chippewa Valley: www.lwv-gcv.org