The Milwaukee County recount will finish counting the remaining roughly 60 ballots and release the results by midday Nov. 27.
The City of Milwaukee almost finished counting all of its ballots by the end of Nov. 25, but election workers realized roughly 60 ballots from ward 254 were missing when they found only 23 out of 88 ballots cast on election day in the ward’s box. Election workers found the missing ballots and brought them to the Milwaukee County recount location before the end of the day, Milwaukee Election Commission Executive Director Claire Woodall-Vogg told the commission board.
She said her predecessor, Neil Abrecht, found the missing ballots inside the voting machine that counted them in the Milwaukee Election Commission warehouse.
Approximately 413,000 votes had been counted out of 460,000 in Milwaukee County with River Hills finishing their recount by midday Nov. 25. The cities of Greenfield and Milwaukee were the only remaining municipalities to finish counting out of 19 in the county that afternoon, putting the recount back on schedule to complete the effort before the Dec. 1 deadline set by the Wisconsin Elections Commission.
All three standing objections from Trump campaign attorneys against ballots in Milwaukee County were struck down by the Milwaukee County Election Commission board, but they agreed to set aside ballots falling under two of the categories.
They set ballots aside where the voter was marked as “indefinitely confined” and ballot envelopes with more than one color of ink on the witness signature line.
More than 51,000 ballots were set aside because the voters marked themselves indefinitely confined. Voters who mark themselves indefinitely confined usually do so because they cannot safely leave their homes, something that has become an issue during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Milwaukee County Clerk George Christenson said the recount went smoother as the week progressed because both campaign legal teams were working together more and observers had not been as disruptive as they were the first few days. “We’re all working together pretty well,” he said.
He said he would have tried to reduce tensions between parties earlier in the process if he could do it all again. He plans to reflect on the recount when it ends so he can improve his future work.
Christenson said both backup ES&S DS850 tabulating machines were brought online by the end of the day Nov. 24 to bring the recount effort back on schedule, upping the total number of tabulating machines to seven for Milwaukee County.
He said Milwaukee County Sheriff’s deputies escorted people off the Wisconsin Center grounds seven times, some for video recording private voter information with their phones throughout the recount. One person was escorted away twice.
“A handful or so” of people were asked to leave the recount by their own parties too, he added.
Some Trump campaign observers objected to every envelope at the table they were observing, delaying the recount early in the process, Milwaukee Election Commission Chair Tim Posnanski said.
Trump campaign lawyers objected to Posnanski’s portrayal of Trump campaign observers as being disruptive in several discussions between the two throughout the process.
“That hasn’t been established,” Trump campaign attorney Joe Voiland told Posnanski on Nov. 24. “You said you believe that there is some evidence that that has been happening, but there is no finding that that has been happening.”
Posnanski retorted, “Okay Mr. Voiland I think there is a finding,” he said. “In effect, observers objected to each and every single ballot in two wards in the City of Milwaukee. That will be the end of this. We are not going to engage in this colloquy.”
The same morning nearly 400 unopened ballot envelopes were found underneath a group of opened and counted ballots by election workers the morning of Nov. 24. They were a combination of absentee and in person votes cast on Election Day.
The newly found ballots were from the City of Milwaukee’s Ward 315 on the South Side, straddling Interstate 43.
Woodall-Vogg said the finding was highly unusual, but the recount process is designed to make sure overlooked ballots are counted.
“As the administrator of elections in the City of Milwaukee I want to make sure that every voter’s vote count,” Woodall-Vogg said. “To find out that nearly half of a ward didn’t would be really disappointing in my point of view.”
She said the error happened because the people assigned to check the ballots in on Nov. 3 likely failed to finish checking all of them in and also failed to inform the people those ballots were given to of their unfinished work.
Trump campaign attorneys also raised concerns about recount observers’ ability to video record the process with their phones, claiming rules against documenting sensitive voter information on envelopes were being applied to Trump campaign observers differently than others.
Posnanski agreed Trump campaign observers have the right to take videos and photos on the recount floor, but they must make sure not to document private voter information.
Attorneys from both parties and the election commission board agreed photography and video documentation are allowed throughout the process with some restrictions the morning of Nov. 25.
Trump campaign attorneys were also concerned with wristbands featuring smiling poop emojis given to every person who entered the Wisconsin Center and did not have a fever. Employees checked the temperature of every person who walked in the door.
“I always thought they were chocolate ice cream, personally,” Christenson said.
