Here’s why USPS dropped off 150 Milwaukee absentee ballots at 7:15 p.m. on election day

That the U.S. Postal Service dropped off 150 absentee ballots to the Milwaukee Election Commission Tuesday evening was in keeping with laws and procedures in place to ensure legally cast votes are counted, the commission's executive director said this week.

Some on social media have questioned what happened.

"Voters have the right under state statute to return ballots until 8 p.m.," Executive Director Claire Woodall told the Journal Sentinel.

Polls close in Wisconsin at 8 p.m.

She added: "We were prepared, we were caught up and then we processed those ballots. It's frustrating that people are criticizing us for counting ballots that were accurately returned and returned by the deadline."

Here's what to know about the situation:

The U.S. Postal Service brings absentee ballots to the Milwaukee Election Commission on election day.

The U.S. Postal Service tries to collect any absentee ballots that are dropped into mailboxes at its branch offices across the city on election day to bring to the city Election Commission, she said.

The Post Office has been taking this step since 2020, she said.

"I don't think there should be any criticism or speculation against the Post Office for also doing a really good job to make sure that voters who are returning their ballot on election day have their ballot counted," she said. "I think that's great."

A U.S. Postal Service spokesperson was not immediately able to comment Thursday.

The U.S. Postal Service dropped off absentee ballots with the Milwaukee Election Commission twice Tuesday evening.

The U.S. Postal Service first called the Milwaukee Election Commission about 6 p.m. to report ballots that needed to be dropped off, Woodall said. The carrier dropped those ballots off at the city's central count, 1901 S. Kinnickinnic Ave.

"Central count" in Milwaukee and other municipalities across the state refers to a single location where that community's absentee ballots are counted. In Milwaukee County, eight communities, including the city of Milwaukee, use a central count location.

"We didn't think we were receiving any more, and then they called our office at 7:15 p.m.," Woodall said.

When the Post Office called the second time, they were outside City Hall with 150 more ballots, she said. There, Election Commission staff registered the ballots as returned in the WisVote database.

At 7:45 p.m., staff arrived with the ballots at the city's central count location, where they were counted, Woodall said.

Milwaukee Election Commission officials arrived at the Milwaukee County Courthouse with the absentee ballot results by 10 p.m.

It took less than a half hour for workers at central count to process 150 ballots, she said.

"You can't open up 150 ballots and just run them through a machine," Woodall said. "It’s not that simple. There's a process and procedure and it has to be documented, and it was done so well."

The city processed about 26,000 total absentee ballots Tuesday.

City officials arrived at the Milwaukee County Courthouse by 10 p.m. with flash drives of absentee ballot results. The City of Milwaukee's absentee ballot results were published on the Milwaukee County Clerk's website about 11 p.m.

Alison Dirr can be reached at adirr@jrn.com.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Why USPS dropped off 150 Milwaukee absentee ballots on election day