Milwaukee elections officials are recounting approximately 31,000 ballots due to a tabulation issue.
Several hours after starting to count absentee ballots at 8:45 a.m. local time on Tuesday morning, officials at Milwaukee's Central Count discovered there was an issue with the physical sealing of the tabulation machines - "some doors were not fully secured by senior election officials," the Milwaukee Election Commission said in a statement.
All 13 of the machines involved are being reset out of an overabundance of caution. When the machines are reset, all 31,000 ballots will be re-run through the machines.
The decision to recount the ballots was "was made in consultation with both Republican and Democratic officials," the MEC's statement says.
An election official told Scripps News Milwaukee that the city of Milwaukee has put out a call to city employees to assist at the city's Central Count location due to the recount.
The call to city employees went out at about 5 p.m. local time on Tuesday, the election official said.
The city now has an "influx" of helpers from different departments, including the city's fire, health, and IT departments. Many new workers, including firefighters, based on what they were wearing, were put to work immediately.
30-40 city workers came in to assist, Scripps News Milwaukee learned.
Election officials said it would delay complete election results in Milwaukee by a couple of hours.
A statement from the Milwaukee Election Commission said, "This afternoon, Milwaukee Election Commission leadership was alerted to an issue with the tabulator doors being fully in place. Each machine has a door that should have been locked and sealed. It appears some doors were not fully secured by senior election officials."
Milwaukee Elections Commission Executive Director Paulina Gutierrez is expected to provide an update to the media soon on this situation.
"The City of Milwaukee has no doubt regarding the integrity of the election. However, in order to eliminate any doubt to be fully transparent, the MEC has decided to start the tabulation process over for all ballots at Central Count. This decision was made in consultation with both Republican and Democratic officials. Approximately 31,000 ballots will be re-tabulated. As a result, the final count will be delayed. There is no estimate as to how long of a delay there will be. There is no higher priority than the accuracy of Milwaukee’s election results. We will keep the news media apprised of any further updates to this issue," the Milwaukee Election Commission said.
This story was originally published by Scripps News Milwaukee.
