Milwaukee orders recount of 31,000 absentee ballots, likely delaying results in Wisconsin
Election officials in Milwaukee said Tuesday they will proceed with a recount of more than 30,000 absentee ballots due to tabulation issues, an error expected to delay the reporting of results from a hotly contested battleground state.
Milwaukee city spokesperson Jeff Fleming told reporters Tuesday that officials decided to order the recount for the 31,000 ballots after discovering issues with 13 tabulator machines.
Milwaukee Election Commission officials confirmed to Fox News on Tuesday that all 13 of those machines had issues with the tabulator door, which were either not secured properly or not fully locked and sealed— triggering the recount of all 31,000 mail-in, drop-box, and in-person absentee ballots.
The decision will delay the reporting of roughly 105,000 absentee ballots in Wisconsin, a pivotal battleground state in the 2024 election.
The recount of the absentee ballots was made in consultation with Republican and Democratic officials, according to a county spokesperson.
GOP PREPARED FOR PIVOTAL COURT BATTLES THAT COULD DECIDE 2024 ELECTION
The process still came under fire from Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., who castigated the process as “unbelievably sloppy.”
“They didn’t start the count for quite some time,” Johnson said of the effort. “It’s not that hard.”
“I mean, you ought to have a procedure sheet,” he told reporters. “They’ve got one job to do and they don’t do it very well.”
Fleming told reporters earlier Tuesday that their decision to recount the ballots was made out of “an abundance of caution,” even as he acknowledged the delays the recount will likely create for the state’s broader election results.
To aid with the process, Milwaukee election officials told Fox News they have brought in firefighters and other city employees to aid in the counting of the absentee ballots.
Milwaukee is the largest city in Wisconsin, one of seven battleground states considered key to determining the next president.
Wisconsin is also one of the most competitive states in the 2024 election cycle.
The Badger State is also one of three Rust Belt states that voted for Trump in 2016 before flipping in 2020 to select Joe Biden.
Biden won the state narrowly in 2020 by a margin of 20,682 votes. The narrow victory gives the state an extra incentive to be as transparent and careful as possible in its ballot counting and reporting process, Fleming stressed Tuesday.
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“What has to be redone is just what’s happening against the wall at the machines,” Fleming told reporters. “It is gonna extend the time that we will get the totals here. We don’t know how much longer that will be. So, it’s not insignificant.”
Republicans chastised Milwaukee for the error Tuesday evening, describing it as 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,” Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley and Co-Chair Lara Trump told Fox News in a statement.
“Anything less undermines voter confidence.”