A Pleasant Prairie voter expecting a routine absentee ballot delivery instead opened their weekend mail to find a City of New Berlin ballot tucked inside a Pleasant Prairie envelope. Not long after, officials learned a voter in Muskego had received a Pleasant Prairie ballot, a one-two mix-up that has now drawn the attention of state election authorities and the U.S. Postal Service just weeks before the Aug. 11 partisan primary.
Village officials say they are treating the incident as a serious but so far isolated mail mishap and are working to get correct ballots into the right hands so no one loses their chance to vote under Wisconsin law.
What Officials Say
The Village Clerk’s Office reported that the Pleasant Prairie mailing envelope appeared to have been taped when it reached the voter, according to WTMJ. After confirming that a Pleasant Prairie ballot had turned up in Muskego, the village alerted the Kenosha County Clerk, the Wisconsin Elections Commission and the U.S. Postal Service.
Village Clerk Jane C. Snell is urging anyone who thinks they received the wrong absentee ballot or had any problem with their absentee mailing to contact their municipal clerk right away so staff can straighten it out before Election Day.
Why Postal Processing Is Under Scrutiny
The mix-up is landing in the middle of a year when state officials were already worried about the mail. In May, after a majority of clerks reported trouble with absentee deliveries, the Wisconsin Elections Commission asked the U.S. Postal Service to take “extraordinary measures” to move election mail faster, according to Wisconsin Public Radio.
That broader concern is one reason both the WEC and USPS are now reviewing the Pleasant Prairie report alongside the village’s own investigation into how the absentee packets appear to have been swapped during postal processing.
How To Check Your Ballot And Who To Call
Voters who suspect they received the wrong absentee ballot are being told to contact their municipal clerk immediately. They can also track the status of their mailed ballot using the state’s MyVote system, which shows when a ballot was sent out and when it was received.
MyVote lists absentee deadlines and reminds voters that completed absentee ballots must arrive at municipal clerks’ offices by 8 p.m. on Election Day, Aug. 11. Pleasant Prairie’s election notices and the Kenosha County clerk webpage list in-person absentee voting hours and phone numbers for residents who would rather cast a ballot at Village Hall or at a county office.
Context: Other Wisconsin Ballot Errors This Year
The Pleasant Prairie case is not the first absentee headache Wisconsin has faced in 2026. Earlier this summer, the Wisconsin Elections Commission opened a review after duplicate absentee ballots were mailed to voters in Green Bay, a situation that brought state scrutiny and staffing changes, according to WHBY.
Election officials say that even when mail errors are rare, they can still confuse voters or slow down their ability to cast the correct ballot if problems are not spotted and fixed quickly.
Local Response And Next Steps
Pleasant Prairie officials say they are coordinating with the affected municipalities and the U.S. Postal Service to make sure every impacted voter gets the right ballot and that any ballots returned to the wrong place are handled in line with state law.
Kenosha County Clerk Regi Waligora has been reminding residents about absentee rules and pointing them to county webpages where they can find sample ballots, in-person absentee hours and contact information. Voters with questions can call their municipal clerk or the county clerk’s office for help, with phone numbers and email addresses posted on village and county websites.
For now, officials describe the issue as limited in scope, but say they will follow up if any review uncovers broader postal or processing problems. In the meantime, voters are being urged to open their mail carefully, make sure the ballot inside matches their community, double-check their information on MyVote and contact their municipal clerk at the first sign that something is off.
