Milwaukee ballot tab question; 31,000 must be counted, says the city

MILWAUKEE – About 31,000 ballots in Milwaukee need to be recast, the city said Tuesday afternoon, due to a tab issue.

City spokesman Jeff Fleming said the tabs were sealed — but the doors to those machines weren’t fully closed properly. The issue involved early absentee and in-person voting and affected all 13 tabulators.

SIGN UP TODAY: Get daily headlines, breaking news emails from FOX6 News

Paulina Gutiérrez, CEO of Milwaukee The Electoral Commission (MEC) guided election officials on how to resolve the issue going forward. In addition to reopening the envelopes for these ballots and the legwork that goes into running the ballots through the machines, each ballot must be reprocessed. The city said it could take hours to recount the ballots.

In order to clear any doubts about being completely transparent, the MEC decided to start the tabulation process all over again for all ballot papers at the Central Count. As a result, the final count of the MEC will be delayed.

This decision was made in consultation with both Republican and Democratic officials.

The machines are not connected to the internet and they are generally reset at the start of the day.

FOX6 News heard from Claire Woodall, the commission’s former executive director, on Monday. She shared information about the central counting process, including the following:

Start the day

On election day and before the start of the central count, the following procedure will be carried out:

• Tabulators are turned on by a member of the Board of Absentee Canvassers (BAC) and confirmed that the number of votes processed in the system is 0.
• The door that houses the power button is locked and sealed. All other openings have already been sealed.
• The zero report is printed.
• The Chief Inspector and another member of the BAC will sign the printed zero report, as well as record the seal numbers and initial on the EL-104.
• The zero report and EL-104 are placed together in the black binder that is placed with each machine.

Pretreatment

Before processing any ballot papersthe two assigned tabulators will complete the following procedure:

• Tabs confirm that the ballot being processed in the system is at 0.
• Tabulators review and sign the zero report confirming that the system is at 0.
• Tabs confirm that all seals are intactand confirm that the seal numbers match EL-104. They will then sign the EL-104 on the signature lines.
• The signed Zero Report and EL-104 are placed back in the black binder.

8:53 update

Gutiérrez fielded questions from the media and provided updates on Election Day, Tuesday, November 5.

“We’re seeing a lot of voter registrations. The voter registrations are long. It’s great to see that. I just want to remind voters that when you register to vote, you have to bring a valid photo ID and proof of residency,” Gutiérrez said. .

From 8.53 Tuesday The City of Milwaukee Election Commission says it has received 106,750 absentee ballots out of the 113,311 it issued. Compared to the 169,000 absentee ballots received in 2020, that’s a 36 percent decrease.

“No worries here. It’s going pretty well at the polls. What we’re seeing is long lines and a lot of activity, so we’re asking our voters to be patient. I have a hotline of 15 staff to answer any questions or concerns that come to these polling places,” Gutiérrez said.

Election day: Tuesday 5 November

Polls are open in Wisconsin from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Voters who are already registered must bring photo ID.

If you are not yet registered to vote, you can do so at the poll. All voters must present proof of residence. That includes a valid Wisconsin driver’s license or a state ID card. There is several other acceptable forms of ID that will be accepted at polling stations.

Track your ballot

MyVote Wisconsin also makes it convenient for voters to track their ballot. You can see if a ballot request has been received or processed, find out if your ballot has been sent, and find out if there was a problem with a ballot.