Milwaukee Primary Results Delayed by USB Download Error in Latest Election Administration Mishap

A procedural error at Milwaukee’s election central count facility postponed the reporting of Tuesday’s Democratic gubernatorial primary results by approximately one hour. Officials discovered that five of nine USB flash drives containing election data had not been properly downloaded, triggering immediate scrutiny from political observers and Republican critics who questioned the competence of local election administration.

The malfunction temporarily stalled results in the closely contested race between Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley and challenger Francesca Hong. Paulina Gutiérrez, executive director of the Milwaukee Election Commission, acknowledged the mistake during a midnight news conference, stating that staff had inadvertently downloaded audit logs instead of election results. The error meant approximately 15,000 votes remained uncounted at the time of discovery.

Commission officials returned to the operations center with police escort to retrieve the missing data and properly export results from all tabulators. Gutiérrez confirmed that a wrong button had been pushed during the initial download process but emphasized that the voting machines themselves functioned correctly and no ballots were lost, altered, or required recounting. After the correct data was downloaded after 1 a.m., Milwaukee County Clerk George Christenson stressed the importance of transparency and election security.

The incident drew sharp criticism from Republican lawmakers and election observers. State Representative Scott Krug called the error an example of “complete incompetence” that should have been caught before staff left the facility. Former Milwaukee Election Commissioner Claire Woodall suggested the repeated error indicated inadequate training on data export procedures.

This marks the second significant human-error incident involving the Milwaukee Election Commission in recent years. During the 2024 presidential election, officials recounted 31,000 absentee ballots after staffers failed to lock tabulator doors, delaying results from 105,000 ballots. A similar error occurred in 2020 when a commissioner left a flash drive containing results at the counting facility, temporarily blocking the reporting of 169,000 absentee ballots.

The Milwaukee mishap follows recent election administration errors in other Democratic-led states. New Jersey disclosed that a software error improperly registered approximately 6,600 individuals who indicated they were not U.S. citizens, with fewer than 400 subsequently voting. Oregon officials reported that Department of Motor Vehicles errors resulted in 1,945 unverified voter registrations, 44 of which led to votes being cast. Connecticut ordered a new Democratic mayoral primary in Bridgeport after discovering absentee-ballot violations that undermined the original outcome.

Wisconsin Election Commission spokesperson Emilee Miklas defended the state’s election integrity despite the error, citing multiple layers of oversight and checks that ultimately caught and corrected the mistake. The race between Crowley and Hong was officially called at 2:34 a.m. Wednesday, with Crowley prevailing by 0.5 percent.