{"id":2366258,"date":"2024-11-08T16:18:01","date_gmt":"2024-11-08T21:18:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/a-real-mess-milwaukee-again-delivers-an-election-night-debacle\/"},"modified":"2024-11-08T16:21:28","modified_gmt":"2024-11-08T21:21:28","slug":"a-real-mess-milwaukee-again-delivers-an-election-night-debacle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/a-real-mess-milwaukee-again-delivers-an-election-night-debacle\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;A Real Mess&#8217;: Milwaukee Again Delivers An Election Night Debacle"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fa-real-mess-milwaukee-again-delivers-an-election-night-debacle%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2366258&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>In the aftermath of the \u20632020 election, Wisconsin Republican leaders Brian \u2064Schimming and Senator Ron Johnson were determined to ensure a transparent election process\u200b in Milwaukee. On \u2062Election\u2064 Day, they\u200c discovered issues \u200cwith \u200d13 vote tabulation machines whose \u2064seals appeared \u2064tampered.\u2062 Schimming and Johnson, upon visiting the\u2064 Central Count operations at the Baird Center, \u200cconfronted\u200d election officials about these irregularities, including the absence of properly secured machines. Election\u2064 administrator Paula Guti\u00e9rrez attributed the problems to &#8220;human\u2064 error,&#8221; stating that some machine doors were not fully closed, which resulted in a delay of counting over 30,000 absentee ballots.<\/p>\n<p>As the counting proceeded late into the night, Republican observers raised concerns about the efficiency \u200cand integrity of the election process. Johnson criticized the disorganization and lack of procedure in place to secure the tabulation machines, while \u2064Schimming remarked on the apparent inability of Milwaukee election officials \u2062to \u200bperform their basic \u200bduties. The\u2064 ongoing inquiries into these issues have led to \u2064heightened\u200c scrutiny over Milwaukee&#8217;s election practices, particularly in light of the historical controversies that\u2062 plagued\u2063 prior elections. Ultimately, Donald Trump&#8217;s victory in Wisconsin raised further questions, as officials reflected on the challenges faced during \u200dthe <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/rumors-amp-up-around-potential-pompeo-2024-white-house-run\/\" title=\"Rumors Amp Up Around Potential Pompeo 2024 White House Run\">recent election cycle<\/a>.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Having lived through the shenanigans of the 2020 election, <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/BrianSchimming?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Brian Schimming<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ronjohnson.senate.gov\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Ron Johnson<\/a>, Wisconsin&rsquo;s senior senator, weren&rsquo;t about to take any chances in Milwaukee.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Schimming, chairman of the Republican Party of Wisconsin, got word that there was a problem with tabulators at Milwaukee&rsquo;s Central Count on Election Day. It was a big problem.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>As The Federalist <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/11\/05\/trying-to-figure-out-what-they-need-to-win-broken-seals-and-delays-draw-malfeasance-accusations-in-milwaukee\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reported,<\/a> the seals on 13 vote tabulation machines appeared to have been tampered with. The doors on the tabulators were not secured. Thankfully, Republican observers noticed the problem and called GOP officials.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>&lsquo;Human Error&rsquo;<\/h2>\n<p>Schimming and Johnson arrived at Milwaukee&rsquo;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/search?q=baird+center&amp;sca_esv=c17571de942c1e95&amp;biw=1440&amp;bih=785&amp;ei=qGEuZ8fiEYO4wN4PnpiWmQk&amp;gs_ssp=eJzj4tTP1TdIqiowSTJgtFI1qLCwMDA1tDQ3tUi0NDcwMLe0MqiwNLZMTEtLsUhKSrYws0w29eJJSswsSlFITs0rSS0CACvSElw&amp;oq=Baird+Center&amp;gs_lp=Egxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAiDEJhaXJkIENlbnRlcioCCAAyDhAuGIAEGLEDGMcBGK8BMgUQABiABDIFEAAYgAQyBRAAGIAEMgUQABiABDIFEAAYgAQyBRAAGIAEMgUQABiABDIFEAAYgAQyBRAAGIAEMh0QLhiABBixAxjHARivARiXBRjcBBjeBBjgBNgBAkjNFVAAWJoDcAF4AJABAJgBjwGgAY8BqgEDMC4xuAEByAEA-AEB-AECmAIDoALuEqgCCsICFhAuGAMYtAIY5QIY6gIYjAMYjwHYAQHCAhYQABgDGLQCGOUCGOoCGIwDGI8B2AEBmAMLugYECAEYCroGBggCEAEYFJIHBzEuMS44LTGgB5EI&amp;sclient=gws-wiz-serp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Baird Center<\/a> (a downtown convention hall and site of Central Count operations) at around 7 p.m. on Tuesday and were confronted by a mob of reporters and cameras, Schimming told me in an interview. The top Republicans took a tour of the massive, multi-gymnasium-style floor. They were joined by the party&rsquo;s election integrity team. Milwaukee Election administrator Paula Guti&eacute;rrez guided them to the tabulators.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Ron had some pointed questions for her. He said, &lsquo;Oh, by the way, is the video available?&rsquo;&rdquo; Schimming said. Video surveillance of the machines and the Central Count operations is required, and, yes, the video must be made available for public inspection. &ldquo;It got a little chippy. [Guti&eacute;rrez] did not appear to be happy there. I wasn&rsquo;t going to lose any sleep over that.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Guti&eacute;rrez, who replaced controversial Milwaukee elections chief <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/05\/08\/shady-milwaukee-elections-chief-ousted-six-months-before-election-but-will-her-successor-be-worse\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Claire Woodall-Vogg<\/a> after she was fired in May, told the press that it was all a matter of &ldquo;human error.&rdquo;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;There were seals on the door, but because the door was not properly closed, some of the seals got loose,&rdquo; she <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wpr.org\/news\/sealing-error-vote-tabulation-machines-delay-milwaukee-election-2024\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">said<\/a> in a press conference.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;It appears some doors were not fully secured by senior election officials,&rdquo; the Milwaukee Election Commission later claimed in a statement.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Said &ldquo;human error&rdquo; forced election officials to have to rerun more than 30,000 absentee ballots through the machines, further delaying a counting operation notorious for prolonged vote counts.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>After the personal inspection, Schimming told Fox News reporter <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/person\/t\/michael-tobin\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Mike Tobin<\/a>, &ldquo;This goes down under the rule, you had one job.&rdquo; And Milwaukee, once again, did that job miserably.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;This seems like a real mess,&rdquo; Johnson <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wispolitics.com\/2024\/milwaukee-firefighters-help-re-run-ballots-after-tabulators-found-unsecured\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">told<\/a> reporters.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Guti&eacute;rrez insisted that the ballots were never in a &ldquo;position to be touched or tampered with,&rdquo; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wpr.org\/news\/sealing-error-vote-tabulation-machines-delay-milwaukee-election-2024\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">according to<\/a> Wisconsin Public Radio.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I know for a fact that these machines are highly secure, there was no tampering, we were able to confirm that,&rdquo; Guti&eacute;rrez said. &ldquo;But (in an) over abundance of caution, we are reprocessing.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<h2>&lsquo;Grossly Incompetent&rsquo;<\/h2>\n<p>Guti&eacute;rrez did not return a call from The Federalist seeking comment.<\/p>\n<p>It was not a good look for a Democrat-led city that was again forced to count deep into the night &mdash; as it had done in the rigged 2020 election &mdash;&nbsp; before it was clear Milwaukee couldn&rsquo;t find enough votes this time for Vice President Kamala Harris. Early Wednesday morning, former President Donald Trump was <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/11\/06\/trump-turns-wisconsin-red-again\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">declared the winner <\/a>of swing state Wisconsin by some <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jsonline.com\/story\/news\/politics\/elections\/2024\/11\/06\/donald-trump-wins-wisconsin-presidential-vote-in-2024-election\/75708195007\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">29,000<\/a> votes, a state he reportedly lost by less than 21,000 votes four years before. In fact, it was beautiful, purple Wisconsin that got Trump to the <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\">constitutionally required 270 electoral vote count<\/a> to secure the election victory and make the Republican only the second president in U.S. history to win two nonconsecutive terms.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>But the questions remain, and GOP officials still are looking for answers.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Milwaukee Central Count delayed opening for at least an hour on Election Day because only 60 percent of poll workers showed up, according to Republican Party officials. City officials <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wispolitics.com\/2024\/milwaukee-firefighters-help-re-run-ballots-after-tabulators-found-unsecured\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reportedly<\/a> had to bring in as many as 40 firefighters, health workers, and IT employees to assist in the ballot recount.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Johnson walked away from Central Count amazed. He said he doesn&rsquo;t believe anything nefarious went down, but what he witnessed was &ldquo;grossly incompetent&rdquo; election administration.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never seen anything so disorganized,&rdquo; the senator told me in an interview on Friday. &ldquo;They didn&rsquo;t have a checklist in place to check out these machines to make sure the doors were locked and secured. They started late and they were just completely disorganized.&rdquo;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>&lsquo;A Flair for Drama&rsquo;<\/h2>\n<p>Republican observers <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/11\/05\/trying-to-figure-out-what-they-need-to-win-broken-seals-and-delays-draw-malfeasance-accusations-in-milwaukee\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">told<\/a> The Federalist that they felt like Milwaukee was slow-walking the process. Milwaukee elections officials also attempted to bring in additional ballots after the polls closed, but Trump campaign and GOP attorneys were all over that, working to block the suspect ballot drop, officials said. Curiously, Wisconsin Democrat Party Chairman Ben Wikler predicted a Trump lead early in the Badger State would be a &ldquo;red mirage.&rdquo; &nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;So, in Milwaukee,&nbsp;you&rsquo;ll&nbsp;see 100 percent of precincts reporting before you see the numbers that come out of those early votes in person and those absentee ballots, which, my guess is, are heavily weighted toward Harris supporters,&rdquo; Wikler <a href=\"https:\/\/www.msnbc.com\/morning-joe\/watch\/wisconsin-democratic-party-chair-predicts-a-red-mirage-before-a-blue-wave-in-the-state-223486533519\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">told<\/a> MSNBC the day before the election. &ldquo;So, that means that you&rsquo;re gonna see a red mirage, where it seems like Trump is doing better than he actually is because they haven&rsquo;t counted and reported those absentee ballots yet, and then the blue shift when those &hellip; ballots are introduced to add to the totals. That could be in the middle of the night. It certainly was in 2020.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>That&rsquo;s exactly how it went down in 2020, when all kinds of strange things were going down at Milwaukee Central Count. In the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/democrat-cori-bush-rushes-to-defense-of-very-violent-criminals-rioting-attacking-guard-in-jail\/\" title=\"Democrat Cori Bush Rushes To Defense Of \u2018Very Violent\u2019 Criminals Rioting, Attacking Guard In Jail\">early morning hours<\/a> the day after the election, Wisconsin&rsquo;s most populous city delivered enough Dem votes for a Joe Biden victory over Trump.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/05\/08\/shady-milwaukee-elections-chief-ousted-six-months-before-election-but-will-her-successor-be-worse\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Woodall-Vogg<\/a>, executive director of the Milwaukee Election Commission at the time, worked closely with leftist organizations through a controversial <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/03\/26\/wisconsin-voters-have-a-chance-to-rid-their-elections-of-zuckbucks-for-good\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">&ldquo;Zuckbucks&rdquo;<\/a> agreement.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Damn, Claire, you have a flair for drama, delivering just the margin needed at 3:00 a.m.,&rdquo; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.influencewatch.org\/app\/uploads\/2021\/11\/green-bay-ctcl-csme-2020-election-emails.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Ryan Chew<\/a> of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.influencewatch.org\/for-profit\/the-elections-group\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Elections Group,<\/a> wrote in a congratulatory <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jsonline.com\/story\/news\/politics\/2021\/08\/05\/milwaukee-election-official-bombarded-threats-over-email-exchange\/5490380001\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">email<\/a> to Vogg. &ldquo;I bet you had those votes counted at midnight, and just wanted to keep the world waiting!&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;That&rsquo;s been the general trend. We build a big lead and we have to withstand votes coming in from Milwaukee,&rdquo; Johnson said. &ldquo;Why was Wikler talking about the wee hours of the morning for those votes to come in?&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The senator said it will be up to the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee whether they want to pursue an investigation. He suspects they won&rsquo;t at this point.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I think the level of incompetence would lead you to believe some of this is nefarious,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But the best way I can describe it is grossly incompetent.&rdquo;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>What Milwaukee&rsquo;s mess does once again is erode confidence in elections, elections the left and their corporate media pals keep insisting are the most secure in the world. <\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;They are reducing confidence in results,&rdquo; the senator said. &ldquo;We want to restore confidence so no matter who wins we all believe in the results. Democrats don&rsquo;t. That&rsquo;s why they&rsquo;re opposed to every confidence-building proposal.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p><em>For more election news and updates, visit&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/electionbriefing.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">electionbriefing.com<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Matt Kittle is a senior elections correspondent for The Federalist. An <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-knew-100-percent-he-was-fighting-for-the-little-guy-former-top-trump-economic-adviser\/\" title=\"Trump Knew \u2018100 Percent\u2019 He Was \u2018Fighting for the Little Guy\u2019: Former Top Trump Economic Adviser\">award-winning investigative reporter<\/a> and 30-year veteran of print, broadcast, and online journalism, Kittle previously served as the executive director of Empower Wisconsin.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Schimming and Johnson were cautious after the 2020 election issues<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":656,"featured_media":2366260,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Screenshot-2024-11-08-at-1.51.40-PM.png","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[10896,37805,7674,5894],"class_list":["post-2366258","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-debacle","tag-election-night","tag-milwaukee","tag-politics"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Screenshot-2024-11-08-at-1.51.40-PM.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2366258","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/656"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2366258"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2366258\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2366262,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2366258\/revisions\/2366262"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2366260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2366258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2366258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2366258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}