Liam Beran
The entrance to the City Clerk's office.
Witzel-Behl has served as city clerk since 2006.
Two months after the mayor’s office announced that 193 absentee ballots from the general election were never counted, some city council members say they’re uncertain whether there is support to renew City Clerk Maribeth Witzel-Behl’s employment contract when it expires in September 2026.
“I would be surprised if the city clerk’s contract is renewed,” says Ald. Mike Verveer. The clerk office’s error included 125 ballots belonging to his constituents. "Obviously that's the mayor's decision, and not any member of the council."
The mayor’s office learned of the uncounted ballots indirectly, about a month after the mistake was discovered.
The council must approve her employment contract, if renewed. Witzel-Behl, who did not respond to an interview request, earns $127,624 yearly.
Verveer says he doesn’t expect that Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway will propose a renewal “because of issues, in large part due to the lack of transparency in the office, most notably with the uncounted ballots in November.”
“But it obviously goes beyond that, as articulated in the mayor’s chief of staff email that you have receipt of,” Verveer says, referencing a February Isthmus article that reported “ongoing issues” with communications from the clerk’s office.
How 193 ballots were left uncounted is the subject of an investigation by the Wisconsin Elections Commission. There is also an ongoing internal city investigation.
Madison Ald. Regina Vidaver, whose constituents were also affected by the uncounted ballots, says she would prefer to know the results of the WEC investigation before commenting on Witzel-Behl’s future with the city.
But November’s error, she allows, “did call a lot into question.”
And, she adds, “A good leader takes the fall for their staff.”
“But if it was [Witzel-Behl’s] decision-making not to communicate to the mayor’s office…that’s pretty problematic. It undermines trust.”
