Sign for the Wisconsin Elections Comission. (Wisconsin Examiner photo)

The Wisconsin Elections Commission voted Thursday to investigate how nearly 200 absentee ballots cast in Madison were overlooked and not counted on Election Night.

“This was such a serious oversight that I didn’t want to wait for a complaint,” the commission chair, Ann Jacobs, said at a special meeting the commission held Thursday.

The investigation findings will be summarized to commissioners, who will “provide further direction” at a future meeting.  

The uncounted ballots didn’t affect the outcome of any state or local elections, according to the elections commission staff.

Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway said Thursday that the city welcomed the investigation.

“I fully support this independent review, and look forward to WEC’s findings and recommendations, which will inform any changes we make to prevent a similar situation from occurring in the future,” Rhodes-Conway said in a statement.

The Madison City Clerk’s office told the elections commission in a memo Dec. 20 about the overlooked Nov. 5 ballots in two Madison wards. A bag containing 68 unprocessed absentee ballots from two wards was found Nov. 12 in a tabulator bin, the memo stated. During reconciliation of ballots on Dec. 3, clerk employees found two sealed envelopes contained a total of 125 unprocessed absentee ballots from another ward.  

The mayor’s office announced the unprocessed ballots Dec. 26. In a public statement the same day, the clerk’s office said that in future elections, “every polling location will receive a list of absentee envelope seal numbers that will be verified as counted on Election Day.”