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Sealing error on vote tabulation machines leads to delay in Milwaukee

'Human error' leads to new count for more than 30K ballots

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A poll worker at the city of Milwaukee central count facility works on a tabulating machine. Evan Casey/WPR

A “human error” is leading to a delay in counting ballots in the city of Milwaukee.

Jeff Fleming, a spokesperson for Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson, announced the problem Tuesday at 4 p.m. The issue revolves around a sealing error in the vote tabulation machines at Milwaukee’s central count facility. 

Paulina Gutiérrez, the executive director of the Milwaukee Election Commission, said the doors for the machines were not closed correctly.

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“There were seals on the door, but because the door was not properly closed, some of the seals got loose,” Gutiérrez said during a press conference.

A statement from the Milwaukee Election Commission said each tabulator machine has a door, “that should have been locked and sealed.”

“It appears some doors were not fully secured by senior election officials,” the statement said.

Paulina Gutiérrez, the executive director of the Milwaukee Election Commission, speaks to reporters at Milwaukee’s central count facility on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. Evan Casey/WPR

Gutiérrez said she was made aware of the issue by an election observer. She notified representatives of the Democratic and Republican parties at the facility and then they reviewed the machines to make sure no tampering occurred.

She said the ballots were never in a “position to be touched or tampered with.”

“I know for a fact that these machines are highly secure, there was no tampering, we were able to confirm that,” Gutiérrez said. “But (in an) over abundance of caution, we are reprocessing.”

Fleming said all 13 tabulator machines at the central count facility will now be zeroed out. Over 30,000 absentee ballots that have already been run through the machines will be run through them again.

“The tabulating machines are now going to be reset, and the ballots that have already gone through the tabulating machine will be rerun through them,” Fleming said.

Ann Jacobs, chair of the Wisconsin Elections Commission, said the city is handling the problem appropriately.

“Rerunning is the absolute right call,” Jacobs said.

Paulina Gutiérrez (red), the executive director of the Milwaukee Election Commission, speaks to poll workers at the city of Milwaukee central count facility on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. Evan Casey/WPR

Gutiérrez didn’t have an estimate on when the results might be in. Earlier in the day, she estimated results for the city would be in between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m. Wednesday morning.

“It’s going to be a late night,” Gutiérrez said. “I will always take safety, security and accuracy, over speed any day.”

Michael Whatley, the chair of the Republican National Committee, released a statement about the error. 

“This is an unacceptable example of incompetent election administration in a key swing state: voters deserve better and we are unambiguously calling on Milwaukee’s officials to do their jobs and count ballots quickly and effectively,” Whatley wrote in the statement. “Anything less undermines voter confidence.” 

Hilario Deleon, the chair of the Republican Party of Milwaukee County, said he doesn’t think there was any tampering with the machines. However, he said he was bothered that the error will lead to delays in results.

“Now it’s going to be more work for everyone, and we’re going to have to wait for the election results,” Deleon said. 

“Come on, we can do better,” he added.

Shortly after 7:30 p.m., Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson and Brian Schimming, chair of the Republican Party of Wisconsin, arrived at Milwaukee’s Central Count.

Schimming told WISN-TV that they were there to do some “fact finding and ask questions.”

“We don’t want to interrupt any processes or anything,” he said. “We want to come in and observe and ask some questions, but this goes down under the rule, ‘you had one job.’”

report from WisPolitics also revealed the city brought in firefighters and IT employees to help run things at the central count facility.

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