With her office facing an unprecedented state investigation over uncounted ballots in November’s election, Madison City Clerk Maribeth Witzel-Behl is stepping down from the leadership post she’s held for nearly 20 years. 

A city official tells The Federalist the controversial clerk was not forced to resign, but a Wisconsin elections official believes otherwise. 

Witzel-Behl had been on paid administrative leave following revelations that elections officials in Wisconsin’s leftist capital city had failed to count 193 absentee ballots cast in November’s presidential contest. Even the Wisconsin Elections Commission’s Democrat chairwoman described the “oversight” as “egregious.” 

At a special meeting in early January, the WEC unanimously voted (6-0) to open the investigation, bypassing the common practice of waiting for an outside complaint. 

“I felt it was important that the commission act promptly and also that we use the powers that we have to get out the information we want,” Commission Chairwoman Ann Jacobs, a highly partisan Democrat, said at the meeting. 

In March, the commission took the further step of ordering depositions of Witzel-Behl and other Madison election officials. They want to know why it took more than a month-and-a-half for the scores of uncounted ballots to be brought to the WEC’s attention.

Last month, Madison’s Human Resources Department opened an internal investigation on Witzel-Behl’s performance record, and far-left Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway put the clerk on administrative leave. 

“Given the nature of the issues being investigated, we felt this was a necessary step to maintain public confidence in the operations of our Clerk’s office,” the mayor said at the time. 

City spokesman Dylan Brogan told The Federalist the internal investigation was suspended upon the clerk’s resignation. He said state law prevents the release of the probe’s report until Witzel-Behl has an opportunity to review the findings. Brogan said the report could be released by the end of the month.  

‘Significantly Undermined Our Confidence’

With pressure on multiple fronts, including a lawsuit filed against the city by a Madison-based lawfare firm seeking class-action status and $175,000 in damages for each plaintiff, the writing may have been on the wall for the embattled city official. Bob Spindell, one of three Republican-appointed members on the six-member Wisconsin Elections Commission, believes Witzel-Behl was forced out. 

“Or she got to the point where she thought this stuff is not worth it anymore. Being a clerk, it’s not easy,” Spindell told The Federalist in an interview Tuesday. 

In her brief resignation letter, submitted to Rhodes-Conway on April 5, Witzel-Behl wrote only that it “has been a pleasure to serve the City for 20 years.” She wished the mayor, the city clerks office and the city of Madison “nothing but the best.” She walks away from a $152,300 annual salary. 

Brogan dismissed the idea that Witzel-Behl was asked to resign. The city did not announce the clerk’s resignation until Monday, praising her for her service to the multifaceted office. True to form, Madison’s leftist city leaders saluted Witzel-Behl for her commitment to “inclusivity and community engagement.” The mayor said Witzel-Behl “embodies the motto she brought to the Clerk’s Office: ‘We exist to assist.’”

But Rhodes-Conway clearly was not pleased with the public-relations black eye the liberal city was soon to receive over the uncounted ballots — and other recent missteps. 

“I was extremely disturbed to once again have to find out about a significant issue in your office not from you, but from another department,” Sam Munger, the mayor’s chief of staff, wrote in a Dec. 20 email to Witzel-Behl, according to documents obtained through an open-records request by Madison’s Isthmus, a liberal news outlet. “Worse yet, apparently you have been aware of this issue since at least Thanksgiving and are only now bringing it to the attention of anyone else in the city.”

“This incident highlights the ongoing issues with communications from your office and, combined with questionable handling of a number of previous incidents this year, has significantly undermined our confidence in your leadership of the department,” Munger added. 

Witzel-Behl apologized a few days later, according to the emails obtained by Isthmus. “The updates I received from the hourly employees reconciling voter participation did not convey the volume involved here. I learned on Friday that ‘some ballots’ was 193 ballots. I should have pressed for more details earlier and communicated with all of you weeks ago,” the clerk wrote. Witzel-Behl could not be reached for comment Tuesday. 

‘On Vacation’

Rhodes-Conway, who has accused Republicans who support election integrity laws of voter suppression tactics, must see the irony of her city clerk’s office disenfranchising nearly 200 voters in a high-turnout presidential election. 

Late last year, Witzel-Bell acknowledged in a letter that her office failed to communicate the uncounted absentee ballots to the state elections regulator for more than a month after the discovery. Even then, the city clerk’s office didn’t alert the Wisconsin Elections Commission to the uncounted ballots as much as it requested help with a “reconciliation override” to enter the “unprocessed” votes into the state’s election system, The Federalist reported at the time. The delayed reporting is especially concerning to the WEC, which continues to investigate.  

Records show Witzel-Behl used up a lot of vacation hours beginning about a week after the Nov. 5 election, in many cases taking portions of days off. Brogan said the city could not comment on whether the time away had anything to do with the communication failures. 

“I think her sin was going on vacation after the election,” Spindell said. The elections commissioner defended the veteran clerk, saying he believes the “mistake” could have happened to anyone. 

But 2024 was a rough year for the Madison City Clerk’s office.

‘Legally Dubious Election Practices’

In September, Witzel-Behl had to send out apology letters after more than 2,200 voters in the leftist enclave received duplicate absentee ballots. City officials claimed the “data processing error” affected an isolated number of voters and was quickly remedied, but the glitch understandably raised election integrity concerns in the closing months of the 2024 presidential election cycle. 

Madison’s history of suspect election practices — from its involvement in the Zuckbucks scandal to a massive ballot harvesting operation during Covid — raised more alarms in a critical battleground state. 

“Given the history of controversial and legally dubious election practices carried out by Madison officials in the past — and your own personal history as an operative for the left-wing, ‘Zuckerbucks’ financed Center for Tech and Civic Life — I don’t have to tell you how important it is for the city to provide full transparency regarding how an ‘error’ of this magnitude was allowed to happen at such a pivotal time,” Rep. Tom Tiffany, Wisconsin’s 7th Congressional District representative, wrote in a letter to the city clerk.  

Witzel-Behl was a driving force behind CTCL‘s partnership with the city of Madison, one of the so-called “Wisconsin 5” cities that received millions of dollars in Facbook founder Mark Zuckerberg-funded private grants in the 2020 elections. She served as a member of the left-wing organization’s advisory committee, according to nonprofit tracker InfluenceWatch. 

Madison City Attorney Michael Haas will continue to serve as acting clerk while Witzel-Behl’s permanent replacement is sought, according to the city. Haas previously served as administrator of the Wisconsin Elections Commission. He was a holdover from the abusive Government Accountability Board. The state legislature disbanded the GAB nearly a decade ago after the Wisconsin Supreme Court shut down the agency’s unconstitutional and politically weaponized “John Doe” investigations into conservatives. Haas was a key player in those abusive probes, which included pre-dawn, armed raids on the homes of targets. 

“I am completely confident in the ability of the highly trained, incredibly competent professional staff at the Clerk’s Office to continue the operations of the office without interruption …,” Haas said in March when Witzel-Behl was placed on leave. “I look forward to working with them to ensure a secure, transparent, and safe election.” 

For more election news and updates, visit electionbriefing.com.