Village Of Waukesha Clerk Resigns Following Ballot Mixup: Report

WAUKESHA, WI — Waukesha's clerk-treasurer has submitted her resignation just over a month out from the Nov. 3 election, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports.

According to the publication, clerk-treasurer Karen Couillard started the job in early September. Her resignation was accepted in a village board meeting Thursday night.

Couillard's resignation is set to take effect on Oct. 6. The newspaper reports she will be temporarily replaced by Mukwonago administrator and clerk-treasurer Kathy Karalewitz, who will work in Waukesha on a part time basis handling election matters.

Couillard's resignation comes on the heels of a ballot mixup reported by Patch in late September.

Related: At Least 2 Instances Of Wrong Ballots Mailed In Waukesha

At the time, Patch reported the ballot mixup came to light when Waukesha Alderman and state assembly candidate Aaron Perry told Patch one of his constituents and her husband received an erroneous mail-in ballot that was missing Perry's name.

When Patch reached out to Couillard, she responded with an emailed statement.

"One ballot was issued incorrectly to a resident as an absentee ballot. We have requested the resident to destroy the incorrect ballot and will reissue the correct ballot. This was a simple human error," Couillard said.

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She then followed up with a second email to Patch to explain the ballot mix-up. She said, "Also note that the reason Mr. Perry was not on the ballot for Wards 7, 9-11 is because those wards are not in his voting district."

Perry told Patch while it was just one ballot there could be possibly be more wrong ballots.

"It doesn't mean 300 wrong ballots were sent out. It just means you got one phone call," he said.

The Journal Sentinel reports only three incorrect ballots were identified among the more than 2,000 mailed out on Sept. 18.

Absentee voters are encouraged to check if they have the correct ballot by going to the website Myvotewi.gov. If the ballot is incorrect, call your local clerk.

Patch editor Karen Pilarski contributed to this report.