In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, approximately 30,000 absentee ballots are set to be re-run through tabulating machines as a precautionary measure. This decision comes after the discovery that the doors on the tabulating machines were not closed properly, as confirmed by city spokesperson Jeff Fleming.
According to Fleming, extensive discussions involving election officials, consultations with individuals in Madison, and legal advisors led to the conclusion that re-running the ballots was necessary to eliminate any doubts about the accuracy of the results. All tabulating machines will be reset to zero before the ballots are reprocessed through the machines.
Fleming mentioned that while this additional step may extend the counting process by several hours, the primary time-consuming task in the counting process remains the processing of absentee ballots and their envelopes, which will not need to be repeated for the affected ballots.
The issue with the tabulating machines was attributed to human error, with Fleming emphasizing that there is no suspicion of tampering with the machines. The primary goal of re-running the ballots is to ensure that the results are accurate and free from any potential discrepancies.
“We don’t want any questions about the accuracy of the results,” Fleming stated. “So we’re going to make sure that they are run correctly.”
