Were there “ghost" or "phantom" voters in Wisconsin’s 2020 election?

Absolutely not.

The idea of “ghost voters” or "phantom voters" comes from a conspiracy theory that the election was stolen by adding votes from “ghost voters” who were then deleted from the voter list so there would be no evidence of them.  The theory assumes unknown entities somehow hacked both the voter registration system and the voting tabulation systems, flipped vote totals on Election Night, then removed voter records to cover the crime. 

The theory is absurd and has no grounding in the reality of how elections systems work.  Nonetheless, people are claiming that “ghost voters” were deleted from the active voter list after Election Day.

Every voter who registers in Wisconsin is tracked in the state’s voter registration database.  Those who are eligible to vote have a status of “active registered,” and their names appear on the printed poll book at each polling place.   Those who become ineligible to vote (because they have died, moved away, been convicted of a felony, etc.) have a status of “inactive,” and their names are never printed in the poll book.  Voters who become inactive must reregister to vote by providing a valid proof-of-residence document if they are eligible.  People in the database can change status from active-registered to inactive, but they are never deleted from the voter database because keeping those voter records helps improve election security and provides a historical record.

In most cases, the only officials who can create or change a voter record in the state database are municipal clerks and their deputies.  The Wisconsin Elections Commission, which maintains the voter registration database used by clerks, has limited authority to deactivate voters. The Commission may deactivate voters who move out of Wisconsin, and through the Four-Year Voter Record Maintenance process, which happens every two years following a general election. No third parties are permitted access to the voter database.  For more information about the latest Four-Year Voter Record Maintenance, please visit https://elections.wi.gov/node/7483

For information about the reasons a voter may be deactivated after an election, please see WEC’s statement: https://elections.wi.gov/node/7478