Green Bay’s longtime city clerk, Celestine Jeffreys, resigned on Friday, August 7, 2026, days before Wisconsin’s August 11 primary, following a monthslong controversy over duplicate absentee ballots mailed to voters under her office’s watch. The resignation ends a five-year tenure that began in January 2021 and closes out weeks of scrutiny from the Wisconsin Elections Commission, which had voted unanimously to open a formal investigation into her office’s conduct.
What Went Wrong With the Ballots
The controversy centers on two separate incidents in which Jeffreys’ office printed and mailed duplicate absentee ballot labels to registered voters. In the April 2026 election, 152 duplicate ballots were sent out, according to findings later confirmed by the Wisconsin Elections Commission. A second, undisclosed number of duplicate ballots went out again ahead of the state’s August 11 primary, prompting the city to place Jeffreys on paid administrative leave on July 9, 2026, while officials reviewed what had happened.
A Formal State Investigation
The Wisconsin Elections Commission’s decision to open a formal probe followed a complaint filed in April by Theresa Sipes, a Brown County Republican Party board member, who alleged the duplicate mailings violated state election law. The commission’s initial investigative findings pointed to Jeffreys as central to the repeated errors, according to reporting by Votebeat and Wisconsin Watch. That finding, more than the complaint itself, appears to have precipitated her decision to step down rather than continue fighting to keep her job through a second consecutive election cycle marred by mailing mistakes.
A Pattern of Prior Problems
Friday’s resignation was not Jeffreys’ first brush with controversy in the role. In late 2023, the commission found that her office’s policy of allowing third parties to return absentee ballots on behalf of other voters likely violated state law. Separately, her office failed over several elections to deactivate certain voter registrations as state law requires, an omission she attributed to unfamiliarity with the requirement rather than intent. Taken together, critics argue the pattern points to deeper management problems in the clerk’s office rather than a single isolated clerical slip.
Officials and Critics Respond
The City of Green Bay’s public response was notably terse: a two-sentence statement wishing Jeffreys well in her future endeavors, with no further comment from Mayor Eric Genrich’s office on the substance of the investigation. Sandy Juno, a former Republican Brown County clerk, was more pointed, telling reporters the city should use this moment to scrutinize its practices, saying officials should evaluate whether “the right person” has been in the job. On the other side, voting-rights advocates sought to reassure the public that the underlying elections process remains sound. Sam Liebert, Wisconsin state director of the nonpartisan group All Voting is Local, said existing safeguards would ensure continuity in Green Bay’s elections and that voters could proceed with confidence in the August primary despite the leadership change.
Who Runs Elections Now
In the immediate term, Deputy Clerk Stacy Menke has stepped in as interim city clerk to oversee the August 11 primary, the very election whose ballot mailings were under scrutiny when Jeffreys resigned. City officials say that arrangement was designed to avoid any disruption to voting during the transition. Mayor Genrich is expected to nominate a permanent replacement in the coming weeks, a choice that will require confirmation by the Green Bay City Council.
What Happens Next
The Wisconsin Elections Commission’s investigation is not expected to end with Jeffreys’ resignation. The commission had only completed the first stage of its inquiry when she stepped down, and officials have not said whether the probe will continue to determine definitively whether state election law was violated or whether any penalties beyond her departure could follow. For Green Bay, the more immediate test will be whether the city council’s eventual pick for permanent clerk can restore confidence in an office that has now drawn state scrutiny in three separate election cycles. With Wisconsin’s midterm primary now underway and a general election still ahead this fall, both parties will be watching closely to see whether the city’s elections administration can avoid a repeat of the mailing errors that ended Jeffreys’ tenure.
