Wisconsin Elections Commission discusses Milwaukee’s primary night mistake
MADISON, Wis. (CBS 58) -- The Wisconsin Elections Commission discussed the response from Milwaukee election officials over what went wrong on primary election night. While most are satisfied with the response, others want more answers.
Bob Spindell, the Republican vice chair of WEC, wants something that is called the cast vote record to prove that no votes were cast while Milwaukee election officials were resolving the problem that occurred on election night, and commissioners say that information will be released on Friday.
A human error on primary election night caused election results to be delayed. Our cameras were there to catch it. It shows instead of downloading the election results from five of the city's nine tabulators, audit logs from machines were exported instead.
“What’s critical on this thing is that we have the cast vote records from each of the nine tabulators used at central count,” Commissioner Spindell said.
Spindell wants to make sure nothing occurred on the machines in the time it took Milwaukee election officials to go to the courthouse, realize their mistake, and returned to central count.
“I don’t know why anybody would have an objection, unless they really think something is screwy, to know if there were any ballots cast after the group left for the county courthouse, why does anyone object to finding out that information,” Spindell said.
According to WEC Commissioner Anne Jacobs, all of that information will be released in the audit files. In a six-page letter from the Milwaukee Election Commission, officials laid out they will be publicly releasing the audit files along with the vote tallies by precinct. The audit logs will show when the incorrect download occurred and when correct logs were downloaded. It will also show no ballots were tallied in the interim, in turn providing the information Mr. Spindell is seeking.
“The thing about it was they counted the votes accurately and nobody even asked for a recount, Commissioner Spindell, there is no evidence of corruption or lack of integrity,” Commissioner Mark Thomsen, a Democratic appointee on WEC, said.
The Milwaukee Election Commission detailed how they are taking steps to make sure the human error that happened on election night won’t happen again.
You can read that full letter by clicking here.
WEC says they plan to respond with their own letter thanking Milwaukee election officials for their detailed account of what took place.