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    • Here’s how Milwaukee processes Election Day absentee ballots:
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    Here’s how Milwaukee processes Election Day absentee ballots:

    Harry Posted on

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    How the City of Milwaukee conducts its elections — particularly regarding absentee voting — comes under intense scrutiny when high-profile races are on the ballot.

    That will be the case on Tuesday, when voters across the country go to the polls to decide whether former President Donald Trump or Vice President Kamala Harris will win the White House.

    But long before November 5, voting was underway in Wisconsin. Hundreds of thousands of ballots have already been returned statewide, with tens of thousands coming from City of Milwaukee voters.

    And, like other communities that count absentee ballots in a single location, known as central counting, Milwaukee will report the results of absentee ballots all at once within a few hours of polls closing on Election Day. These results are expected to be announced after midnight on November 6.

    The sheer volume of votes in this heavily Democratic city means that when added to the total, often late at night, they can change the course of statewide elections.

    This is predictable — and expected — yet the sequence of events has been used by some Republicans to claim something is wrong with Wisconsin’s largest city’s election administration.

    Below is the City of Milwaukee’s general process for counting and publicly reporting absentee ballot results, based on the city Election Commission’s documented processes and interviews with city and county election officials.

    The document showing the entire 42-step process is located at the end of this story.

    On November 5, the Milwaukee central census will be held at the Baird Center

    Milwaukee will count absentee votes for the presidential election at the Baird Center downtown; Under state law, that process won’t begin until 7 a.m. on Election Day.

    The city will use 13 machines to count absentee ballots. These machines are not connected to the internet, so the results must be downloaded to flash drives and taken to Milwaukee County at the end of the night.

    Under the Election Commission’s lengthy absentee voting procedure, election officials are required to document the steps they take, and multiple people are involved in the process.

    “With elections, there is always a big pile of paperwork and checks and balances,” said Paulina Gutiérrez, Executive Director of the Milwaukee Elections Commission. during a public demonstration of voting equipment on Saturday.. “Even after the elections are over, there are multiple audits at various levels of government.”

    At the beginning of the day, before central counting begins:

    • Two members of the Absentee Voting Board will turn on the machines used to calculate absentee ballot results and verify that the machines indicate zero ballots have been counted.
    • The door that covers the power switch and all other openings into the machine are locked and sealed.
    • The serial numbers on these seals are written on a form that is then initialed by the chief inspector and a member of the Board of Absence Canvassers.

    Before any ballots are processed, two staff members will:

    • Before signing the null report, verify that the machine indicates that zero ballots have been counted.
    • Verify that all seals on the machine are intact and that the serial numbers on the seals match those recorded on the form. They then initial this form.
    • Place the form with the signed zero report and serial numbers on a table where the public can view it.

    A public announcement will be made during the central census in the afternoon. The following will then happen:

    • The inspector general will publicly clean and reformat the flash drives from which absentee voting results will be transferred from each machine once the count is complete. This process is then noted in a chain-of-custody event log.
    • Cleaned and labeled flash drives are placed in designated red memory pack transfer bags and sealed with a ballot lock. The lead investigator notes the flash drive labels on the outside of the bags and then records the serial number on the ballot locks on the appropriate chain of custody forms.
    • Serial numbers are verified by a representative from each political party and a member of the Board of Absentee Canvassers. The group will then sign a pre-export certification on chain of custody forms.
    • In public view, the now-secured memory pack transfer bags and chain of custody forms will be placed in a secure box that will be locked and remain in a secure area for public view for the remainder of the day.

    Transferring absentee ballot results from the machines begins after the polls are closed, all eligible ballots have been processed, and election workers have verified that each ward has been reconciled.

    • An announcement will be made that the process of exporting absentee voting results will begin.
    • The Board of Election Commissioners will meet at the lockbox where the flash drives are stored, and the Election Commission executive director and deputy director will break the seal of the lockbox to retrieve the red bags containing the flash drives along with the custody forms.
    • Designated witnesses will verify that the serial numbers on the chain of custody forms and transfer bags match.
    • The executive director, his deputy, and the commissioners will go to the machines assigned to them and begin transmitting the absentee voting results.

    Both teams will go to their assigned ballot processing machines at the same time.

    • The lock on the red bag will be cut on the first machine that accesses the flash drive assigned to that machine, the seal on the door to the machine’s USB port will be broken, and the lead inspector will record the time when the seal is broken.
    • The lead inspector will insert the cleaned flash drive into the machine and export the unofficial results.
    • The flash drive containing the data is placed in an empty green memory pack transfer case, which is additionally secured along with the relevant paperwork containing the final printed reports.
    • A sealed bag containing the results and documents will then be ready to be taken to the Milwaukee County Courthouse.

    Milwaukee’s absentee voting results left the central count on their way to the Milwaukee County Courthouse

    The Election Commission administrative director and deputy director, along with members of the Board of Election Commissioners, will escort the secure ballot bag inside the Milwaukee police vehicle to the Milwaukee County Election Commission at the county Courthouse.

    Milwaukee’s absentee ballot results arrive at Milwaukee County Courthouse

    Once at the courthouse, city officials will have Milwaukee County Elections Director Michelle Hawley sign the flash drives.

    Hawley will then upload the absentee ballot results into the election reporting system.

    He expected this process to take 20 to 25 minutes before results are made public on the county’s election night website.

    Alison Dirr can be reached at [email protected].

    Harry
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