Counting Effectively Completed, Milwaukee County Recount Will Finish on Friday
One ward remains, Trump campaign maintaining objections to over 100,000 ballots.

City of Milwaukee election staff, including executive director Claire Woodall-Vogg (seated). Photo by Jeramey Jannene.
Milwaukee County’s half of the Wisconsin presidential recount is effectively finished after six days. Only one City of Milwaukee ward is unfinished.
But the results won’t be able until Friday at the earliest.
The Milwaukee County Election Commission adjourned Wednesday night and will reconvene Friday morning to complete the necessary procedural moves to complete the process. The city will finish its remaining ward.
After an opening day in which no ballots were counted and the commission and campaigns traded barbs, work began to move forward.
By Sunday, the third day, the work was moving smoothly. Milwaukee County Clerk George L. Christenson said things were tension-free mid-day Tuesday. But that night a heated exchange took place between the Trump campaign and the three-member commission.
As of Wednesday morning 413,000 of the 460,000 ballots had been counted with 16 of 19 municipalities completed. River Hills, Greenfield and Milwaukee, with the exception of one ward, finished their counting before 5:00 p.m. Wednesday.
Milwaukee officials could not find 65 of the 88 in-person ballots previously counted in Ward 254 said Claire Woodall-Vogg of the ballots on-hand at the Wisconsin Center.
“We went back to our warehouse and located them in our voting machine where it appears the chief left them,” said Woodall-Vogg, the city’s election director.
Commission chair Tim Posnanski said they would be counted on Friday. Former city election director Neil Albrecht found them at the city warehouse at 1901 S. Kinnickinnic Ave. and brought them to the facility. The quantity and results of the ward were known on election day and will be double-checked as part of the recount.
He characterized the day as going smoothly. Even without the ballots the commission would not have been able to finish its work said Posnanski. “I had hoped to announce we were done counting, sounds like we have about 60 more to go,” he said as things wound down for the day. The commission would have needed to meet Friday to perform a number of procedural tasks even if the ballots were already counted.
The biggest change in election results is expected to stem from 386 sealed ballots found Tuesday in the bottom of a box for Ward 315 on Milwaukee’s far south side. Urban Milwaukee reported November 5th that turnout in that ward was unusually low and no reason could be determined.
Attorneys for the Joe Biden campaign moved Wednesday to submit that article to the record of the recount.
The Trump campaign meanwhile has submitted dozens of exhibits to the record that contain opened absentee envelopes where the ink colors do not match or the voter declared themselves indefinitely confined. The campaign also has a standing objection to the approximately 108,000 in-person absentee ballots that were cast.
A group allied with the Trump campaign filed a petition with the Wisconsin Supreme Court on Tuesday challenging the absentee ballots and seeking to have the election overturned.
The deputies have escorted people from the premises seven times, including one individual twice for not wearing a mask properly. They have not had to escort anyone out in the past two days.
A photographer was asked to leave by the commission on Wednesday after two violations of the recount’s photography policy that prohibits photographs of voter-identification information on ballots and envelopes.
Biden led Trump by 20,608 votes across Wisconsin and 182,913 votes in Milwaukee County in advance of the recount. A 2016 statewide recount changed the presidential results by just 131 votes.
Results from both counties will be available when posted by the Wisconsin Elections Commission.
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More about the 2020 General Election
- GOP State Legislators Asked Pence to Not Certify Election - Melanie Conklin - Jan 14th, 2021
- Rep. Hintz: Condemns Republican Legislators’ Lies and Dangerous Rhetoric - State Rep. Gordon Hintz - Jan 14th, 2021
- Tiffany, Fitzgerald Object To Some Biden Electors - Shawn Johnson - Jan 7th, 2021
- Sen. Baldwin: “It’s Disgraceful” - Urban Milwaukee - Jan 6th, 2021
- Rep Moore Blames Trump for Today’s Chaos - Urban Milwaukee - Jan 6th, 2021
- Rep. Gallagher: “We are witnessing absolute banana republic crap in the United States Capitol right now” - Urban Milwaukee - Jan 6th, 2021
- Back in the News: Cleta Mitchell Resigns from Foley Firm - Bruce Murphy - Jan 5th, 2021
- Gallagher Assails GOP Push to Nullify Election - Rob Mentzer - Jan 5th, 2021
- Back in the News: Foley Firm Faces Blowback on Trump Call - Bruce Murphy - Jan 5th, 2021
- Johnson Discusses Election Integrity, Electoral Commission on Fox News - U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson - Jan 5th, 2021
Read more about 2020 General Election here
More about the Presidential Recount
- Legislature Refuses to Change Absentee Vote Counting Law - Nora Eckert - Dec 5th, 2020
- Supervisor Martin Thanks Election Commission for Successfully Completing the Recount - Sup. Felesia Martin - Dec 2nd, 2020
- State Elections Commission Gets Testy - Jeramey Jannene - Dec 1st, 2020
- State Declares Biden Won Election - Graham Kilmer - Nov 30th, 2020
- Recount Reaffirms that Wisconsin Voters Picked Joe Biden - A Better Wisconsin Together - Nov 30th, 2020
- AG Kaul Issues Statement on Completion of Partial Recount in Wisconsin - Josh Kaul - Nov 30th, 2020
- Wisconsin Recount Grows Biden’s Margin, But Trump Says Fight Isn’t Over - Jeramey Jannene - Nov 29th, 2020
- Trump Promises Lawsuit Challenging Wisconsin Election Results - Jeramey Jannene - Nov 29th, 2020
- Milwaukee County Completes Recount - George Christenson - Nov 27th, 2020
- Milwaukee County Recount Finished, Dane County Continuing - Jeramey Jannene - Nov 27th, 2020
Read more about Presidential Recount here