Start With What Works
Wisconsin's 2024 audit showed the machines counted correctly. That's not the end of the conversation. It's the foundation for it.
In early 2025, the Wisconsin Elections Commission released the results of its audit of the 2024 general election. Local officials in 336 randomly selected communities hand-counted 327,230 ballots — nearly 10% of every vote cast in the state, and the largest post-election audit in Wisconsin history.
They found five human errors. Zero machine errors.
That's worth saying out loud, clearly, without qualification: the machines that counted Wisconsin's ballots in 2024 counted them correctly.
That's not the end of the conversation. It's the foundation for it.
What the audit answered — and what it didn't
The audit answered one question: did the machines count the ballots they were given correctly?
It wasn't designed to answer three other questions voters keep asking, from every direction:
— Could every eligible voter actually cast a ballot without unreasonable barriers?
— Did every ballot counted belong to an eligible voter?
— Can an ordinary voter verify any of this for themselves — without waiting for a state report months later?
Those aren't opposing questions. They're the same question asked three ways: does my vote still carry the weight it's supposed to?
Where everyone already agrees
A ballot cast by someone ineligible cancels out a legitimate one. A voter turned away is silenced the same way. Either way, someone loses their voice — and it could be you, or your neighbor, or the person working two jobs who finally made it to the polls.
Most voters, regardless of party, already agree on this. The disagreement is mostly about which failure happens more. The question this project is asking is simpler: why are we arguing about it instead of building the thing that settles it?
Two additions that build on the foundation
Wisconsin already does the hard part well. The audit is the proof. Two small additions would build directly on that work — within the framework of laws already on the books.
Ballot receipt confirmation
Posting near-real-time status for absentee ballots so any voter can confirm their own ballot arrived and was accepted — rather than waiting for a summary report long after the fact.
Ballot image access
Every community already tabulates digital images of the ballots cast. Making those images available for public review would mean any voter, of any party, could verify counts themselves.
Neither of these restricts access. Neither adds new rules for voters. Both let the state's good work — the work this audit documented — be visible to the people it serves.
Start with what works. Add what lets everyone see it.
Draft your message.
We're finishing a tool that helps Wisconsin voters draft a letter to their state legislator, a social post, or talking points for real conversations — nonpartisan, editable, and yours before you send. Check back soon.
In the meantime: the simplest message works best. Find your state legislator and tell them, in your own words, what you noticed in the 2024 audit — and what you'd like to see built on top of it.
A legislator who hears "thank you for the audit — here's what would make it better" pays more attention than one who gets a form letter. Specific beats formal. Personal beats polished.
Want to know when the drafting tool launches? Check back, or contact us if you'd like early access.
Fair rules. Clear process. Your vote counts.