Central count for absentee ballots problematic. There's a better way Milwaukee. | Opinion
Like a broken record, every election cycle we hear horror stories of late-night vote dumps and allegations of election fraud coming out of Milwaukee. The recent spring election was no exception, with votes election results delayed until after 11 p.m. due to the late arrival of absentee ballots from the Post Office.
The late-night reporting of absentee ballots in Milwaukee is the result of combination of a very poor policy choice by Milwaukee election officials and a state law that creates inefficiencies in counting. Fortunately, the city has the ability to change course and improve efficiency. In Wisconsin, municipalities like Milwaukee have two options for counting absentee ballots: they can do what Milwaukee and about 37 other municipalities do and count all absentee ballots at a central location. This is known as “central count.” Alternatively, they could send those absentee ballots out to the polling places where they would have been cast as if they were voted on election day where poll workers feed them into the machines all day. Most communities in Wisconsin use option two, including Wisconsin’s second largest city, Madison.
Central count systems like Milwaukee's are less efficient
There are several reasons that central count often proves to be less efficient. First, all of the ballots must be physically transmitted to one singular location for counting. In a large city like Milwaukee that involves thousands of ballots. Inevitably, boxes of votes get misplaced and are discovered when the counting process is well under way —or even after the process is completed. In the 2020 presidential election, a box of nearly 400 uncounted votes was only discovered during the recount process, leading to renewed claims of fraud. This was not fraud but human error from the central count process.
Claims of fraud are false. Donald Trump lost Wisconsin in 2020 fair and square.
Second, due to state law election officials are only allowed to begin processing the ballots on election day itself. A bill that would have improved this process was considered in the legislature during the last session and enjoyed bipartisan support.
Under the bill, election clerks would have been able to review absentee ballots and ensure all the information is current on the day prior to the election meaning less work on election day. The ballots, however, would still have been counted on Election Day which ensured that no one would know the results early. The earlier processing (but not counting) absentee ballots would have cured the late night ballot dumps. The bill passed the Assembly on a voice vote but was held up and ultimately stopped completely by the Senate.
Since the legislature was unwilling to change state law in this manner, moving away from central count is the only common sense move for improving the efficiency of reporting election results. Without central count, poll workers can simply process ballots through the machines all day as time permits. While it is slightly less convenient for city election staff (after all, they have to organize and transport the ballots to the correct polling locations), it would have tremendous benefits, including potentially saving resources (no longer needing to staff and secure a central count location, for example).
Switching away from central count can help build trust in elections
But most importantly, switching away from central count would help to restore faith and trust in our elections. In recent election cycles, we have witnessed a disturbing decline in belief that American elections are being run honestly. A January 2024 poll by Amherst College found that 30% of Americans continue to question the legitimacy of the 2020 election.
A 4-year-old died in a hit-and-run. We need the mayor's outrage – and innovation.
As was shown in our own organization’s 2020 election study, most of the claims about election fraud that we examined were not proven, though we did find abandonment of proper procedures by election administrators. With this background, it isn’t hard to understand why people raise questions when election results change while they are sleeping.
It is vital that we do all we can to address the legitimate issues that have been raised. Counting absentee ballots at the polling place will lead to election results being reported on a timely manner and will help restore trust in our elections. It’s that simple.
Lucas Vebber is a deputy counsel at the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty. Will Flanders is research director at the organization.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee election trust can be fixed. Here’s how
