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    Here's how Milwaukee processes its mail-in ballots on Election Day
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    Here's how Milwaukee processes its mail-in ballots on Election Day

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    The way the City of Milwaukee conducts its elections — particularly as it relates to mail-in voting — comes under intense scrutiny when high-profile elections are on the docket.

    That will be the case 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 voting took place in Wisconsin long before November 5th. Hundreds of thousands of mail-in ballots have already been returned across the state, with tens of thousands coming from voters in the city of Milwaukee.

    And like other communities that count their mail-in ballots at a single location, called a central count, Milwaukee will announce its mail-in ballot results all at once a few hours after polls close on Election Day. These results are expected to be announced sometime after midnight on November 6th.

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

    This predictable – and expected – sequence of events was nevertheless used by some Republicans to falsely claim that something was wrong with the election administration of Wisconsin's largest city.

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

    The document showing the complete 42-step process is included at the end of this story.

    Milwaukee's central count will take place on November 5th at the Baird Center

    Milwaukee will count its mail-in ballots for the presidential election at the Baird Center downtown, a process that under state law cannot begin until 7 a.m. on Election Day.

    The city will use 13 machines to count its mail-in ballots. These machines are not connected to the Internet, so the results must be downloaded onto USB sticks and brought to Milwaukee County at the end of the night.

    The Election Commission's lengthy mail-in voting process requires election officials to document their steps, and multiple people are involved in the process.

    “In elections there is always a long paper trail, checks and balances,” Paulina Gutiérrez, executive director of the Milwaukee Election Commission, said during a public demonstration of voting equipment Saturday. “And even after the election, there are numerous audits taking place at multiple levels of government.”

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

    • Two members of the Absentee Voting Committee turn on the machines used to count the absentee ballot results and confirm that the machines indicate that no absentee votes have been counted.
    • The door that covers the power switch and all other openings on the machine are closed and sealed.
    • The serial numbers of these seals are written on a form which is then signed by the Chief Inspector and a member of the Board of Absentee Canvassers.

    Before ballots are processed, two staff members will do the following:

    • Make sure the machine indicates that no mail-in ballots have been counted before signing the null report.
    • Make sure all seals on the machine are intact and that the serial numbers on the seals match the serial numbers already recorded on a form. They then initial this form.
    • Place the signed zero report and serial number form on a table for the public to see.

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

    • The chief inspector will, in full view of the public, erase and reformat the USB sticks onto which the postal ballot results will be exported from each device when counting is completed. This process is then recorded in a chain of custody incident log.
    • The released and labeled USB sticks are placed in designated red memory pack transfer bags and sealed with a ballot seal. On the outside of the bags, the chief inspector notes the USB stick labels and then enters the serial number from the ballot locks on the corresponding chain of custody forms.
    • The serial numbers are verified by a representative of each political party and a member of the Board of Absentee Canvassers. The group will then sign a pre-export certification on the chain of custody forms.
    • The now secure storage package transfer bags and chain of custody forms will be stored in a publicly accessible secure box, which will be locked and remain in a secure, publicly accessible area for the remainder of the day.

    The export of mail-in voting results from the machines begins after the polls close, all eligible ballots have been processed, and poll workers have confirmed that each precinct has voted.

    • There will be an announcement that the process of exporting postal vote results will begin.
    • The Board of Election Commissioners will meet at the locked box where the USB drives were kept and the Executive Director and Deputy Director of the Election Commission will break the seal of the locker to retrieve the red bags containing the USB drives along with the custody forms to obtain.
    • Designated witnesses will confirm that the serial numbers on the chain of custody forms and the transfer bags match.
    • The managing director, his deputy and the commissioners go to their assigned devices to begin exporting the results of the postal vote.

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

    • The lock on the red bag will be cut on the machine that first accesses the USB flash drive assigned to that machine, the seal on the door to the machine's USB port will be broken, and the chief inspector will record the time the seal was broken.
    • The lead inspector inserts the cleaned USB stick into the device and exports the unofficial results.
    • The USB stick containing the data is placed in an empty green memory pack transfer bag, which is further secured along with the associated documentation, including the final printed reports.
    • A sealed bag containing the results and documentation can then be taken to the Milwaukee County Courthouse.

    When the results of mail-in voting in Milwaukee leave the central count on the way to the Milwaukee County Courthouse

    The Executive Director and Deputy Director of the Election Commission, along with members of the Board of Election Commissioners, will escort the secured ballot bag in a Milwaukee police vehicle to the Milwaukee County Election Commission in the county courthouse.

    Milwaukee absentee ballot results arrive at the Milwaukee County Courthouse

    When they reach the courthouse, city officials will hand over the USB drives to Michelle Hawley, Milwaukee County elections director.

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

    She expected that process to take between 20 and 25 minutes before the results would be made available to the public on the county's election night website.

    Alison Dirr can be reached at [email protected].

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