Dairy State Dispatch: Error Leads Milwaukee Election Officials to Reset, Recount 30k Absentee Ballots

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The city of Milwaukee is going to zero out and recount 30-40,000 absentee ballots due to a ‘tabulating machine malfunction.’

WATCH:

Per CNN, 30,000 absentee ballots in Milwaukee need to be recounted due to tabulating machine malfunction. pic.twitter.com/x9J7nCDAWI

— Heartland Signal (@HeartlandSignal) November 5, 2024

Hoo boy.

BREAKING: The city of Milwaukee is going to recount about 30,000 absentee ballots that had already been counted.

There was an issue with one tabulator not being sealed. Out of precaution, the city will recount each ballot. A long night just got longer

— A.J. Bayatpour (@AJBayatpour) November 5, 2024

The good news is the RNC won a lawsuit to have poll watchers present. Hopefully that’ll help.

The Milwaukee Election Commission has received more than 100,000 absentee ballots in this election.

Milwaukee Co. GOP Chair @HilarioDeleon12 is there and told @TajmaHallTV he doesn’t think there was anything “nefarious” that happened

— A.J. Bayatpour (@AJBayatpour) November 5, 2024

It’s hard to trust this, given the shenanigans of 2020, so we’ll see.

Every GOP county in the state should hold their results until Milwaukee is done. At least make them guess at how many 3am votes they need.

— David Kleckner (@dkleckner) November 5, 2024

Yep.

The seals were discovered broken on 15 of 16 tabulator machines this afternoon at Milwaukee’s Central Count, #Milwaukee GOP Chairman Hilario Deleon told WRN.

He said Paulina Gutierrez, Milwaukee Election Commission Executive Director resealed the machines with Deleon watching as…

— Wisconsin Right Now (@wisconsin_now) November 5, 2024

The entire post reads:

He said Paulina Gutierrez, Milwaukee Election Commission Executive Director resealed the machines with Deleon watching as an election observer. 

‘She looked like she was going to have a nervous breakdown,’ Deleon said of Gutierrez, when she learned of the seal issue. ‘She was very transparent. She said, ‘We have to fix this right away.’’

‘The tabulation machines where the ballots are ran through – on each side of the machine there are little glass doors with locks and seals with serial numbers. Those have to be closed at the end of the night,’ he explained. There weren’t flash drives in the machines yet he said.  However the machine seals protect the hard drive ports where flash drives are inserted to get the count so it can be brought to the courthouse at the end of the day. 

‘The seals are broken,’ Deleon said. 

‘It’s a huge red flag. It should not have happened.’ 

He said election observers in the morning watched as the machines were sealed and they broken by 2 pm and it’s not clear how they were broken. But he doesn’t think the broken seals caused any issues with correct vote counts. Rather he said it’s slowed the process. 

‘The count here is unbelievably slow,’ he said. 

Gonna be a long night for this writer, she thinks.

How can this still be happening. The election commission is incompetent and should immediately be removed. Every single year there is issues. This is unacceptable

— Chris (@defNotElonMusk) November 5, 2024

We agree with all of this.

Good grief. https://t.co/HjGr51qlIu

— Jay Weber (@JayWeber3) November 5, 2024

Right?

What else can you say?

Milwaukee is legitimately f**king useless. Dane County may be super liberal but at least competent. https://t.co/S79KNum7aV

— Wisconsin’s Conservative Sponge (@wiz_political) November 5, 2024

Really is embarrassing.

Of course https://t.co/HRVDzj2mHE

— Dan O’Donnell (@DanODonnellShow) November 5, 2024

Of course.

NEW: Statement from the Milwaukee Election Commission states some tabulator doors were not fully secured. Decision to recount everything was made “in consultation” with Democratic and Republican representatives https://t.co/3m4GT4do3C pic.twitter.com/sXgDMEJlbp

— A.J. Bayatpour (@AJBayatpour) November 5, 2024

It seems the RNC is on the ball this time, and on board with the plan.

Here’s more:

Important update on Wisconsin: Milwaukee Central Count hit a snafu today. The tabulator machines have doors that are supposed to be locked and sealed before tabulation. Sadly, that did not occur this morning. Both political parties agree that nothing was wrong with the 1/

— Ann Jacobs (@AnnJacobsMKE) November 5, 2024

Jacobs is the chair of the Milwaukee Elections Commission.

Tabulation so far. However, in the interest of transparency and so that people can have confidence in the tabulation, the decision was made to re-tabulate the ballots run through so far. That’s about 34,000 ballots give or take. So the machines are being zeroed out, and 2/

— Ann Jacobs (@AnnJacobsMKE) November 5, 2024

Keep an eye on it, RNC.

The ballots will be re-run. This will delay Milwaukee’s reporting. However, this was absolutely the right decision for them to make. And it was important to make this decision *before* the results were known. This is the right thing to do 3/

— Ann Jacobs (@AnnJacobsMKE) November 5, 2024

Gonna be a looong night.

When mistakes are made. Acknowledge them, fix them, explain them. So sorry my friends, it will be a very late night here in beautiful Milwaukee.

— Ann Jacobs (@AnnJacobsMKE) November 5, 2024

Do better.

🚨🚨🚨 Throughout the day we have been monitoring slow ballot counting in Milwaukee.

Now, our legal team has learned that the counting took place in unsecured conditions and the city now has to start over, wildly extending the counting timeline.

This is an unacceptable…

— Lara Trump (@LaraLeaTrump) November 5, 2024

This writer will keep an eye on it, too.