About 31K Milwaukee absentee ballots need to be retabulated
About 31K Milwaukee absentee ballots need to be retabulated
    Posted on 11/06/2024
BREAKING NEWS ODESA FOR CONTINUES THIS HALF HOUR WITH SOME BREAKING NEWS COMING OUT OF DOWNTOWN MILWAUKEE. IN TERMS OF ELECTION DAY AND ABSENTEE BALLOT COUNTING. YEAH, WE ARE HEARING HERE OF REPORTS THAT 30,000 BALLOTS WILL HAVE TO BE COUNTED AT MILWAUKEE CENTRAL COUNT. WE WANT TO SEND IT OUT TO 12 NEWS. DUKE CARTER, WHO IS JOINING US LIVE INSIDE THE BALLOT CENTER. DUKE, WE JUST GOT THIS INFORMATION INTO THE NEWSROOM. WHAT ARE YOU HEARING? WHAT ARE YOU LEARNING RIGHT NOW? WELL, WE JUST LEARNED FROM LITERALLY THE MAYOR’S PIO THAT. YEAH, AS YOU ALL JUST MENTIONED, 30,000 BALLOTS THAT WERE COUNTED AT AROUND 8:00 THIS MORNING, 9:00 THIS MORNING WHEN THEY STARTED TO COUNT. ARE GOING TO HAVE TO RECOUNT IT AGAIN. THE REASON FOR THAT IS BECAUSE THE DOOR ON THESE MACHINES KIND OF WANT TO GIVE YOU ALL A GLIMPSE OF WHAT WE’RE LOOKING AT, RIGHT NOW. THE DOORS WHERE THESE MACHINES ARE COUNTED THERE ON THE FAR RIGHT OF THIS WALL OVER HERE AT THE BALLOT CENTER. THE DOOR WAS NOT PROPERLY CLOSED. SO BECAUSE OF THAT, YOU HAVE ABOUT 30,000 BALLOTS OUT OF 106,000 BALLOTS THAT HAVE ABUNDANCE OF CAUTION. THEY WANT TO MAKE SURE THAT THERE IS NO AMBIGUITY WITH THE ELECTION RESULTS. SO WE HAVE SEEN PAULINA GUTIERREZ. SHE HAS BEEN GOING BACK AND FORTH JUST TO MAKE SURE THAT EVERYTHING HAS BEEN GOING AS SMOOTH AS POSSIBLE. WE’VE LITERALLY LEARNED THIS JUST MAYBE ABOUT FIVE MINUTES AGO. SO EVERYTHING IS FLUID RIGHT NOW. BUT HERE’S WHAT LEADERS HAD TO SAY ABOUT THIS INCIDENT. TAKE A LISTEN. HUMAN ERROR NOT FULLY SEALED. WE ARE GOING TO ZERO THEM ALL OUT AGAIN. THE 13 MACHINES ARE OUT AND THEN RERUN THE BALLOTS THAT HAD ALREADY BEEN PROCESSED. SO MOST OF WHAT YOU’RE SEEING ON THE FLOOR HERE, THE OPENING OF THE ENVELOPES, THE SORTING THROUGH THAT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE REDONE, WHAT HAS TO BE REDONE IS JUST WHAT’S HAPPENING AGAINST THE WALL AT THE MACHINES. IT IS GOING TO EXTEND THE TIME THAT WE WILL GET THE THE TOTALS HERE. WE DON’T KNOW HOW MUCH LONGER THAT WILL BE. SO AS YOU JUST HEARD, NOW THAT PUSHES THINGS A LITTLE BIT BACK AS WE REPORTED EARLIER, THAT IT COULD BE BETWEEN 1 AND 3:00. WE COULD GET THOSE FINAL RESULTS IN. NOW THAT PUSHES THINGS BACK A LITTLE BIT FURTHER AS FAR AS WHEN THAT COULD BE DONE. THAT HAS YET TO BE DETERMINED. AND ONE QUESTION, ONE QUESTION WE HAD FOR YOU, DUKE. WE HEARD FROM THE MAYOR’S SPOKESPERSON THERE WAS THIS AN ISSUE WITH A SINGLE MACHINE OR MULTIPLE MACHINES, OR DO WE KNOW THAT AT THIS POINT? YEAH, IT IS MULTIPLE MACHINES. SO YES, IN THAT NEWS CONFERENCE THAT WE WELL MODIFIED NEWS CONFERENCE, IF YOU WANT TO CALL IT, IT’S ABOUT 13 MACHINES GOING TO HAVE A PHOTOGRAPHER NATHAN MOVE AND KIND OF PAN IN ON THOSE MACHINES THAT THEY’RE LOOKING AT. YOU CAN SEE THERE’S A LOT OF ACTIVITY HAPPENING WITH PAULINA GUTIERREZ. SHE’S WEARING A RED COAT. THERE’S A LOT OF ACTIVITY RIGHT HERE WHERE SOME OBSERVERS ARE. AND WE DID SPEAK TO ONE MAYBE ABOUT AN HOUR OR SO AGO WHERE THIS ISSUE DID COME UP, AND THEY DID COMPLIMENT GUTIERREZ ON TRYING TO GET THE SITUATION HANDLED AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE TO AGAIN ENSURE THAT THIS VOTING PROCESS IS AS DEMOCRATIC, IS AS TRANSPARENT AS POSSIBLE. SO WHAT WE HAVE LEARNED THAT IT IS MULTIPLE MACHINES, THEY SAID ABOUT 13 MACHINES OUT OF ABUNDANCE OF CAUTION, THEY WANT TO RERUN THOSE 30,000 BALLOTS JUST TO ENSURE THAT THERE IS NO AMBIGUITY WITH THIS ELECTION PROCESS. AND AGAIN, THE WHOLE REASON FOR THAT. JUST TO RECAP, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, THE REASON FOR THAT IS BECAUSE THE DOOR ON THE MACHINE WAS NOT PROPERLY CLOSED AND THEY WANT TO MAKE SURE THAT AGAIN, THIS ELECTION PROCESS IS TRANSPARENT, THAT THIS ELECTION PROCESS IS TRANSPARENT, IS SAFE, AND THAT ALL THOSE VOTES ARE ACCOUNTED FOR CORRECTLY AND AS FAR AS YOU KNOW, DUKE, WITH THOSE 13 MACHINES, HAVE THEY GONE BACK TO EACH OF THOSE MACHINES TO MAKE SURE THAT DOOR ISSUE IS NO LONGER AN ISSUE? YEAH. YES. SO RIGHT NOW THAT’S WHAT THEY’RE DOING RIGHT NOW. THAT’S WHAT PAULINA GUTIERREZ IS GOING BACK TO EACH SINGLE INDIVIDUAL MACHINE TO ENSURE THAT THAT DOOR HAS BEEN PROPERLY CLOSED TO AGAIN, MAKE SURE THAT THESE COUNTS ARE CORRECT. AS FAR AS THE COUNTS IN THIS ELECTION PROCESS. ALL RIGHT. SOME IMPORTANT INFORMATION. DUKE CARTER, BRINGING US THE LATE

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About 31K Milwaukee absentee ballots need to be retabulated

Election officials say 13 machines will be zeroed out and ballots rerun.

About 31,000 absentee ballots need to be retabulated at the city of Milwaukee's central count at the Baird Center. The Milwaukee Election Commission (MEC) said the doors for 13 tabulator machines were not closed properly.The MEC said each machine has a door that should've been locked and sealed. Some doors weren't fully secured by senior election officials."We are going to zero them all out again, 13 machines around, and then rerun the ballots that had already been processed," said Jeff Fleming of the Milwaukee mayor's office. "It is going to extend the time that we will get the totals. We don't know how much longer." Fleming said it was a human error."We don't want any questions about the accuracy about the results," Fleming said. "We're going to make sure that they are run correctly."The decision to rerun the ballots was made in consultation with both the Republican and Democratic officials, according to the MEC. "These machines are highly secure. There was no tampering. We were able to confirm that. Through abundance of caution, we are reprocessing," Milwaukee Election Commission Executive Director Paulina Gutierrez said. The MEC said the City of Milwaukee has no doubt regarding the integrity of the election.The MEC said they began counting ballots at the Baird Center just before 9 a.m.The central count location at the Baird Center is processing around 106,000 absentee ballots.Watch: WISN 12 News Political Director Matt Smith gets response from Trump campaign:

About 31,000 absentee ballots need to be retabulated at the city of Milwaukee's central count at the Baird Center.

The Milwaukee Election Commission (MEC) said the doors for 13 tabulator machines were not closed properly.

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The MEC said each machine has a door that should've been locked and sealed. Some doors weren't fully secured by senior election officials.

"We are going to zero them all out again, 13 machines around, and then rerun the ballots that had already been processed," said Jeff Fleming of the Milwaukee mayor's office. "It is going to extend the time that we will get the totals. We don't know how much longer."

Fleming said it was a human error.

"We don't want any questions about the accuracy about the results," Fleming said. "We're going to make sure that they are run correctly."

The decision to rerun the ballots was made in consultation with both the Republican and Democratic officials, according to the MEC.

"These machines are highly secure. There was no tampering. We were able to confirm that. Through abundance of caution, we are reprocessing," Milwaukee Election Commission Executive Director Paulina Gutierrez said.

The MEC said the City of Milwaukee has no doubt regarding the integrity of the election.

The MEC said they began counting ballots at the Baird Center just before 9 a.m.

The central count location at the Baird Center is processing around 106,000 absentee ballots.

Watch: WISN 12 News Political Director Matt Smith gets response from Trump campaign:
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