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Polls closed across Wisconsin following Election Day, which was marked by a human error in Milwaukee that led city election officials to recount 31,000 ballots and likely delayed the state’s unofficial results for hours.

In other areas around the state, problems appeared minimal despite long lines and rain. Some election officials said they had unprecedented turnout but made it through. Madison received bomb threatsThe message, which likely came from Russia and was directed at various current and former polling places, did not find the threats credible and did not disrupt voting because of them.

By 9 p.m., election officials had already tabulated nearly 1.4 million absentee and in-person ballots statewide.

Unlocked tabulator doors allow ballot recounts to be decided

In Milwaukee, elections chief Paulina Gutiérrez predicted counting absentee ballots in the city would continue until Wednesday morning, partly as a result of Tuesday afternoon’s decision to have election officials recount 31,000 ballots. staff did not lock table doors early in the morning.

For security reasons, these panel doors, which cover the on/off switch and sometimes a slot for USB drives, will be locked during counting, but other security measures ensure there is no possibility of tampering.

City spokesman Jeff Fleming said the decision to restart the count was made “out of an abundance of caution.”

Wisconsin Election Commission Administrator Meagan Wolfe said the commission did not weigh in on the city’s decision to redact ballots but praised the city’s transparency throughout the process.

After Gutiérrez made that decision, the city called on all Milwaukee employees to help election officials count the ballots that had already been prepared. City spokeswoman Caroline Reinwald said 30 to 50 city personnel from health, fire and other departments arrived to assist.

“Things are moving really smoothly and quickly right now, so hopefully this isn’t actually that much of a delay,” he said.

But Republican leaders criticized the carelessness that led to the second count. U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin said Milwaukee’s central count was “oddly disorganized.” State GOP Chairman Brian Schimming said of election officials: “You had one job,” adding that the election operation went “ridiculously wrong.”

Johnson said his concerns about oversight by Milwaukee election officials could be eased if they provided him with video recordings of the central counting site as well as records of the first and second counting of the 31,000 ballots, including how they were divided by party. City officials noted that centralized count video feeds were available, but that vote totals were not exported in the manner Johnson sought, although each vote had a paper trail.

By 8:30 p.m., Milwaukee officials had counted 64,000 ballots, for a total of about 108,000; this includes initial ballots redacted through tabulators.

Under Milwaukee rules, all of the city’s ballots are processed and tabulated in one central location. State law does not allow election officials to tabulate or process any ballots before Election Day; This policy is partly responsible for the often late reporting of absentee ballot results.

A bipartisan group of lawmakers tried to change that policy last legislative session, but a Republican-authored proposal to allow some voting on the Monday before the election stood in the senate.

“It certainly seems like if we had slightly different laws that allowed for pre-treatment, like most other states, we could potentially have unofficial results in the early evening,” Wolfe said.

Election Day in Milwaukee was also marked by a lawsuit filed by the Republican National Committee alleging that GOP election observers were restricted from polling places in the city. The GOP withdrew its allegations at a hearing Tuesday. I agree there is no problem.

Fake bomb threat does not prevent voting

Outside of Milwaukee, election officials ran into a few problems.

City spokesman Dylan Brogan said the Madison Police Department received bomb threats for several current and former polling places through several emails that appeared to come from an automated bot possibly linked to Russia. Brogan said police immediately thought they were fake and that voting was not disrupted at any polling places, but they were following up to make sure everything was OK.

One in Thornapple Northern Wisconsin town facing Justice Department lawsuit Erin Webster, a local resident and election observer Tuesday, said election officials used a voting machine because of a past decision not to use accessible voting machines.

Meanwhile, around 21.00 Wisconsin voters overwhelmingly supported A constitutional amendment bill that would ban non-citizens from voting throughout Wisconsin. The change will have little impact on who can vote under current law, but will prevent municipalities from opening their local elections to non-citizens or young voters.

of the state Increase in early in-person votingbut election officials said Tuesday was still very busy. Melissa Kono, who has clerked in the small Wisconsin town of Burnside since 2013, said this was the busiest election she’s ever handled in terms of turnout.

Alexander Shur is a reporter for Wisconsin-based Votebeat. Contact Alexander [email protected].