Milwaukee County election results from Tuesday's primary were delayed for approximately 90 minutes after officials downloaded the wrong data file from five of nine USB flash drives, election administrators confirmed. The error affected reporting of the Democratic gubernatorial primary between Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley and state Rep. Francesca Hong.
The delay occurred when staff attempted to retrieve election results from tabulation machines at Central Count. According to Paulina Gutiérrez, executive director of the Milwaukee Election Commission, workers downloaded an audit log — which documents machine activity — instead of the actual election results file. Results remained intact on the tabulators and were not altered by the error.
"We're all human, and humans can make errors," Gutiérrez said during a midnight news conference. She confirmed that a wrong button was pressed when downloading the data. Election staff returned to Central Count with a police escort after 1 a.m. to properly retrieve the remaining voting data.
About 15,000 votes had yet to be counted at the time results were delayed. Milwaukee County Clerk George Christenson emphasized transparency following the resolution of the issue.
"What's important is that we're transparent, that the results are secure and that we're open and honest," Christenson said. "That's what the City of Milwaukee election director did. She came up here, and she explained it, went back, got the results, brought it back to us, and we got everything right."
What the Left Is Saying
Democratic officials in Wisconsin defended the transparency of the process following the delay. Supporters pointed to Gutiérrez's immediate public acknowledgment of the error and the quick resolution without impact on vote totals.
"The issue delayed the reporting of Milwaukee's results, but it did not affect the results," the Election Commission said in a press release. "The election results remained intact and unchanged on the tabulators. No ballots were lost or changed, or needed to be recounted or retabulated."
Former Milwaukee Election Commissioner Claire Woodall attributed the repeated error to potential training gaps rather than systemic failure. In an interview with Votebeat, she questioned whether staff received adequate instruction on operating the equipment.
"The fact that this happened five times seems more like a training issue," Woodall said. "Was this person trained on how to export results? Are they familiar with the machines and how you export results?"
What the Right Is Saying
Republicans seized on the incident as evidence of ongoing problems in Democratic-led election administration.
Republican state Rep. Scott Krug criticized the error on social media, calling it "complete incompetence."
"This was human error that could have easily been double checked before leaving the facility," Krug wrote on X. "More than one answer to the problem not one silver bullet."
The delay comes amid heightened scrutiny of election administration in Democratic-led jurisdictions nationwide. Recent ballot and reporting errors in several blue states — including New Jersey, Oregon, and Connecticut — have drawn criticism from Republican lawmakers, with some leading to formal investigations.
What the Numbers Show
The Milwaukee error involved five of nine USB flash drives failing to properly download election results from tabulation machines. The standard download time is approximately 10 minutes, though some machines completed the process in three minutes. Officials waited roughly 90 minutes before learning that no data had been transferred, according to NBC News correspondent Steve Kornacki.
Approximately 15,000 votes remained uncounted during the reporting delay. Final certified results have not yet been announced for the Democratic gubernatorial primary.
The incident marks at least the third election-related error in Milwaukee in recent years:
- During the 2024 presidential election, staff did not lock tabulator doors on absentee ballot machines, requiring a recount of approximately 31,000 ballots
- In 2020, an election commissioner left one of 12 flash drives containing results at Central Count Nationwide, other recent errors include New Jersey's disclosure that a software error improperly registered roughly 6,600 people who indicated they were not U.S. citizens — fewer than 400 of whom later cast ballots — and Oregon officials reporting that DMV errors led to 1,945 people registering without proof of eligibility, with 44 of those individuals voting.
The Bottom Line
The delay in Milwaukee highlights ongoing training and procedural concerns in election administration at the local level. While officials stress that no votes were altered or lost, repeated errors — both locally and nationally — have provided ammunition for critics questioning the reliability of election systems in Democratic-led areas.
Election administrators maintain that human error is an inherent risk in any manual process but emphasize that redundant security measures caught the mistake before it affected outcomes. Wisconsin's gubernatorial primary results remain pending final certification.