Election officials in Milwaukee announced Tuesday that they will proceed with a recount of more than 30,000 absentee ballots due to a counting problem, an error that is expected to delay reporting results in battleground states.
Milwaukee city spokesman Jeff Fleming told reporters Tuesday that officials decided to order a recount of 31,000 absentee ballots after discovering problems with 13 tabulation machines. Ta.
The machines either didn't have physical seals or weren't properly secured by election officials, Fleming said. Everything will be reset and re-counted.
A county spokesperson said the decision to recount absentee ballots was made in consultation with Republican and Democratic officials.
Republicans prepare for key legal battle that could decide 2024 election
Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican presidential candidate former President Trump (Reuters/Evelyn Hochstein, Octavio Jones/File Photo)
Fleming told reporters Tuesday that the decision to recount the votes was made out of “an abundance of caution,” although he acknowledged that a recount could potentially delay election results across the state. Ta.
Milwaukee is the largest city in Wisconsin and one of seven battleground states considered to hold the key to determining the next president.
Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris arrives to address a campaign rally at the Wisconsin State Fair Expo on November 1, 2024 in West Allis, Wisconsin. (AP Photo/Jacqueline Martin)
Wisconsin is also one of the most competitive states in the 2024 election cycle.
The Badger State is also one of three Rust Belt states that voted for Trump in 2016, then flipped and elected Joe Biden in 2020.
Biden narrowly won the state in 2020 by a margin of 20,682 votes. Fleming emphasized Tuesday that the narrow victory gives the state even more incentive to be as transparent and discreet as possible in its vote counting and reporting process.
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“The only thing that has to be redone is what's happening against the wall of the machine,” Fleming told reporters. “It's going to extend the time it takes to get the total here. We don't know how long it will take. So it doesn't matter.”
Republicans on Tuesday night condemned the Milwaukee error as an “unacceptable example of incompetent election administration in a key battleground state.”
The man is wearing a Trump wig and a national flag. Luzerne County, a normally Democratic county, flipped an election in 2016. Pennsylvania counties are a hot spot in this election. Trump supporters led a parade through the county in support of the former president. (Amy Dilger/SOPA Images/Sipa USA)
Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley and Co-Chairman Lara Trump said in a statement that voters “deserve better, and we want to encourage City of Milwaukee employees to do their jobs, respond promptly and We are clearly asking them to count the votes efficiently.”
“Anything more will erode voter confidence.”
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