UPDATED 2: The Wausonian broke the Wausau mayor ballot box story; now it's become national news

UPDATED: The mayor issued a press release today. I’ve included it below; and now there is new information about an investigation.

I didn’t expect to be writing my third story about an absentee ballot box — but here we are.

Since The Wausonian first broke the story about the mayor removing an absentee ballot box from the steps of City Hall Sunday (before any other outlet in the area had reported it), sparking outrage in the community, much has happened.

To recap:

Diny told The Wausonian that he moved the box out of concerns. When The Wausonian asked what those concerns were, Diny responded that the box was unsecured, and that he moved it inside. He also included in his response a photo of himself dressed in a suit, hard hat and work gloves carting the box on a dolly.

The Wausonian took a trip to City Hall on Tuesday and couldn’t find the box anywhere accessible in a public area. The Wausonian asked the city clerk about it, but never did receive a response in time for the story.

Since that story, a few things happened:

Several public commenters, including School Board Member Sarah Brock, chastised the mayor for removing the box from public access. Following the public comment, Diny and City Council President Lisa Rasmussen argued over her characterization of his actions in a brief but heated exchange. You can watch the commentary and dust-up here:

Then late Wednesday, Wausau City Clerk Kaitlyn Bernarde sent out a press release, claiming the box was empty, locked, and was on the steps of City Hall waiting for city staff to bolt it down on Monday morning. Those staff members came Monday morning to find the box missing.

Bernarde said she was forwarding the issue to the Marathon County District Attorney’s Office and to the Wisconsin Election Commission. So far no such complaint appears on the commission’s website. Many are questioning the legality of the mayor moving the ballot box since municipal clerks have sole custody of running elections and, under a recent Supreme Court decision, placing absentee ballot boxes.

But the ballot box issue is no longer just a local one. Numerous outlets have now picked up the story, including CNN, the New York Times, Fox News and the Washington Post.

The latest organization to weigh in is the Republican Party of Marathon County, which supported Diny’s campaign for mayor against then-incumbent mayor Katie Rosenberg.

Party Chair Kevin Hermening in a letter to the city clerk questioned why the box was left outside and not bolted to the ground. That allowed the possibility of the box to be tampered with.

To that end, we believe it is unconscionable that an absentee ballot drop box was posted outside of Wausau City Hall without being secured to the ground allowing anyone to tamper with the box.

The letter also questioned why Bernarde told The Washington Post that residents could return their ballots inside of a payments box.

Please explain how it is possible that the “chain of custody” requirement for ballot security can be guaranteed.

If Bernarde issued a response we will update this story, though she had previously stated the box was empty and locked as it awaited installation. Although the way this story is going, there might be enough news for a whole new post. Stay tuned.

Friday update

On Friday afternoon, Mayor Diny issued a press release. I will include it in full:

The city clerk is out of her lane, I don't work for her.  

The Wausau City Attorney is in the middle of a performance review for not doing her job, initiated after claims made by a departing assistant city attorney came public in July.  I had to bring in an independent law firm to handle that.  

Meanwhile, Brookfield and New Berlin, WI brought the question of drop box utilization to their city council.  That's what I would like to do.

More than once, Robert Kennedy has reminded us that progress depends on change and change always has its enemies.

This comes after sources tell The Wausonian that the clerk had given the mayor a deadline of noon Friday to return the ballot box to the lobby before she sought charges for election interference. A quick search of City Hall demonstrated that the ballot box is not in any public area as of early Friday afternoon.

It’s unclear why the city attorney was invoked in Diny’s press release, though it’s likely she was asked to weigh in from a legal perspective. Other news outlets reported that Jacobson advised the mayor not to tamper with the ballot box.

Jacobson refused to see me when I stopped by the office Friday afternoon. The mayor’s office was closed and the lights were turned off.

Update No. 2

Correction: A previous version of this story mistook the office that will be conducting the investigation in Portage County.

The Marathon County District Attorney’s Office late Friday afternoon put out a press release that the Portage County District Sheriff’s Office will be handling the investigation alluded to by the city clerk earlier this week.

According to Wetzsteon’s release

The Wisconsin Department of Justice will continue to be apprised of the status and findings of the investigation. 

Wetzsteon added that her office will have no further comment on the matter as it’s being investigated.

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Meanwhile, read the original story: