Elections officials accuse Wisconsin Congressman of spreading election misinformation after ballot processing error

    MADISON, Wisconsin (WDJT) -- A Wisconsin Congressman's response to an absentee ballot mistake is sparking backlash and accusations he's intentionally spreading misinformation.

But Republican Congressman Tom Tiffany is standing by his concerns, even calling for an independent review of the mistake.

It started when the city of Madison mailed out duplicate absentee ballots to 2,215 voters. An elections official said it was an honest mistake, one similar to a mail merge error.

But when Congressman Tom Tiffany took his concerns to social media, elections officials said he spread incorrect information.

Things have blown up from there.

Earlier this week, the city of Madison discovered a "simple data processing error" that sent duplicate ballots to 2,215 voters.

Madison clerk Maribeth Witzel-Behl said this week, "What happened was one of the files of absentee voter names and addresses, we accidentally ran it through twice."

The city reminded voters only one ballot would be accepted, tracked by the barcode on the envelope. Barcodes are never printed on the ballots themselves; all votes are secret.

But Tiffany refutes the city's account of the explanation.

He told us, "They said the barcodes are on the ballot. I questioned that. And me and my staff reviewed that and it turns out they are on the envelope."

Tiffany posted on social media "my office has proof that there is no barcode on the actual ballots."

Some felt it was a "gotcha" attempt to show there were no barcodes on the ballot when Tiffany thought there should have been.

Ann Jacobs, the chair of the Wisconsin Elections Commission, told us, "I wish people would learn how elections are run before they complain about conspiracy theories."

On Thursday, Tiffany insisted he knew all along barcodes were not supposed to be printed on the ballots themselves, despite the wording of his post.

We asked, "Were you aware that the barcodes are not supposed to be on the ballots?" He responded, "Yeah, that's correct."

Reaction on social media was swift, with the majority of people correctly saying barcodes are never on ballots.

But within 24 hours, Tiffany's post had been seen by nearly two million people, many of them conspiracy theorists using it as evidence of supposed election interference.

In a point-by-point response to Tiffany's letter of concerns, the city of Madison said no criminal conduct was found, and law enforcement will not be contacted.

But Tiffany still wants an independent investigation.

Both he and elections officials are warning against misinformation impacting the election.

Tiffany said, "I think we have to make sure we sift through to make sure we're getting accurate information."

Jacobs told us, "Unfortunately, what he didn't do was ask before he issued his incorrect, and unfortunate, statement."

Right now, the city of Madison is contacting each and every voter impacted to remind them only one ballot can be returned, and they should destroy the duplicate.