Election officials in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, announced that around 31,000 ballots would need to be recounted due to a technical error with the tabulation machines. The issue arose when the machines’ doors were not fully sealed, causing the ballots to be processed incorrectly. The recount could delay the final vote tally by several hours, but officials have assured the public that there was no indication of any compromised ballots.
A spokesperson for the Milwaukee Election Commission explained that the sealing error, attributed to human oversight, required all processed ballots to be zeroed out before being recounted. Despite the disruption, the integrity of the individual ballots remained intact. The recount is a precautionary measure to ensure the accuracy of the results.
Jeff Fleming, a spokesman for the city, emphasized the importance of taking this step out of caution. “There’s no reason to believe there was any compromise to any of the machines,” he said. The city expects the recount process to extend the time it takes to finish counting ballots, which already included a backlog of absentee and early voting ballots that were expected to take until after midnight to finalize.
Impact On Wisconsin’s Vote Counting Process
Wisconsin’s voting process has faced several unique challenges. In addition to the machine error in Milwaukee, other delays stem from the state’s policy of beginning to process mail-in ballots only at 7 a.m. on Election Day. In larger cities, ballots are taken to central processing locations, adding to the potential delays.
Election officials in Wisconsin, as in other states, have emphasized the importance of ensuring that every vote is counted correctly, despite the delays caused by technical difficulties.
Bomb Threats Disrupt Voting Sites In Georgia
Meanwhile, voting sites in Georgia were threatened with bomb attacks on Election Day. The threats, which were made over the internet and included Cyrillic letters, were quickly investigated by local election officials and the FBI.
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger reported that the threats tapered off after the FBI issued a statement. Despite the unsettling situation, the authorities acted swiftly to ensure the safety of voters and polling stations.
While election integrity remains a priority across the country, these incidents highlight the ongoing challenges faced by election officials in swing states like Wisconsin and Georgia. Despite these hurdles, officials are committed to ensuring every vote is counted accurately and safely.
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