On August 11, political watchers and journalists in Wisconsin were forced to wait for results out of Milwaukee County. Again. On a night when the primary race between Democrat David Crowley and Democratic Socialist Francesca Hong was a horse race, everyone deserved clear answers.
The Milwaukee Election Commission (MEC) did not give them, however. Instead, vote totals from the city of Milwaukee were delayed by more than an hour because the staff "erroneously" downloaded the wrong information to USB drives.
Instead of the vote totals, they downloaded the audit logs and had to go back to correct the information. Milwaukee has routinely late election returns, often after the rest of the state has sent in its vote totals. Critics say this makes the blue city, run by Democrats, seem like it's waiting to see how many votes it needs to find to tip the scales of the election. Whether or not that's true, we don't know.
What we do know is the Milwaukee Election Commission was hit with a new complaint over its "pattern of failures" in that primary.
Gavery says both Milwaukee officials failed duties tied to transparency and public access. He says Central Count was not operated as though it were the clerk’s office and observers were not allowed to view ballot handling as required under state law. https://t.co/Nr9jy4hype
— Dairyland Sentinel (@DairylandSent) September 15, 2026
Election observer Justin Gavery submitted a 33-page filing alleging the Milwaukee Election Commission violated multiple statutes during the August 11 primary.
The filing says that Milwaukee's handling of the election "shows a pattern of recurring failures that Milwaukee has not corrected across four election cycles." The complaint also says the primary included blocked observations, late/missing notices, and procedures that weren't followed.
"MEC could not reliably administer a partisan primary, and WEC's (Wisconsin Election Commission) refusal to intervene leaves no confidence that Milwaukee can lawfully administer the November 3 general election.
The complaint follows two recent WEC meetings where commissioners chose not to issue penalties or corrective orders. At the August 31 meeting, WEC asked Milwaukee to explain why required vote‑transmission data was missing. MEC provided a short response that acknowledged the failure but did not fully explain how it happened or how it would be prevented in November.
Milwaukee had submitted a six‑page letter explaining how audit logs were downloaded onto five memory cards instead of election results. Commissioners asked the city to make the logs public, and WEC Administrator Meagan Wolfe told the commission that Milwaukee followed through earlier this month.
With just 46 days to go to the election, Wisconsin voters deserve transparency and competent election commissions. It's clear MEC and WEC have no interest in providing either.