MILWAUKEE, Wis. — Milwaukee election workers start processing roughly 58,000 absentee ballots at 7 a.m. today at Central Count, and the city election commission says it has added new safeguards after a costly slip during the August primary.
Wisconsin law does not allow clerks to begin counting absentee votes before Election Day, so the entire stack waits until Tuesday morning. Just over 64,000 absentee ballots went out in all, said Paulina Gutierrez, who leads the Milwaukee Election Commission as executive director.
This year the operation is housed at the Italian Community Center. About 130 workers are spread across 10 pods, each paired with one of 10 tabulating machines. Workers first confirm each ballot is eligible and give it a voter number, then machine operators run it through. Counted ballots go into separate green carts, while ballots still waiting sit in padlocked red carts that were guarded overnight by Milwaukee police.
The biggest change comes at the end. In August, audit logs rather than vote totals were loaded onto five of the nine flash drives, holding up results from about 28,000 absentee ballots for hours. Gutierrez blamed human error, not the equipment. Now two bipartisan teams will handle the download using a point-and-call routine, saying each step out loud, with visual instructions and laminated guides the public can follow too.
With police along for the trip, the drives will then go to the Milwaukee County Courthouse, and the numbers are uploaded there for public view. Gutierrez has said she hopes the absentee count wraps up before 1 a.m. Wednesday. Central Count is open to public observers.
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