Milwaukee, WI

Wisconsin election runs mostly smoothly, despite bomb threats

Published

2 years ago

November 6, 2024

Wisconsin election runs mostly smoothly, despite bomb threats

Votebeat is a nonprofit news organization reporting on voting access and election administration across the U.S. Sign up for Votebeat Wisconsin’s free newsletter here.

Polls closed across Wisconsin after an Election Day marked most notably by a human error in Milwaukee that prompted city election officials to count 31,000 absentee ballots all over again, potentially delaying the state’s unofficial results for hours.

In other areas around the state, problems appeared minimal despite long lines and rain. Some election officials said they had unprecedented turnout but managed it. Madison received bomb threats, likely originating from Russia, directed at several current and former polling places, but city police didn’t deem the threats credible and didn’t interrupt voting because of them.

By 9 p.m., election officials had already tabulated around 1.4 million absentee and in-person ballots across the state.

Unlocked tabulator doors prompt decision to count ballots again

In Milwaukee, election chief Paulina Gutiérrez projected that the city’s counting of absentee ballots would go well into Wednesday morning, partially a result of her decision Tuesday afternoon to make election workers count 31,000 absentee ballots all over again because some staff didn’t lock tabulator doors in the early morning.

For security reasons, those panel doors — which cover the on/off switch and sometimes a slot for USB drives — are to be locked during counting, though other security measures ensured there was no chance of tampering.

The decision to restart the count, city spokesperson Jeff Fleming said, was “out of an abundance of caution.”

Wisconsin Elections Commission Administrator Meagan Wolfe said the commission didn’t weigh in on the city’s decision to rerun the batch of ballots, but she praised the city’s transparency throughout the process.

After Gutiérrez made that decision, the city put out an all-call to every Milwaukee employee to help election officials count the ballots that had already been tabulated. Between 30 and 50 city staff from health, fire, and other departments came to help, city spokesperson Caroline Reinwald said.

“Things are moving really smoothly right now and quickly, so hopefully this isn’t actually that much of a delay,” she said.

But Republican leaders criticized the oversight that led to the second count. U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin called Milwaukee’s central count “grotesquely disorganized.” State GOP Chair Brian Schimming said about election officials, “You had one job,” adding that the election operation had gone “ridiculously wrong.”

Johnson said his concerns about Milwaukee election officials’ oversight could be alleviated if they present him video logs of the central counting site as well as records from the initial and second count of the 31,000 absentee ballots, including how they’re split by party. There are video streams of central count, but vote totals weren’t exported in the manner that Johnson was seeking, though each vote has a paper trail, city officials stated.

Milwaukee officials had counted 64,000 absentee ballots of around 108,000 total by 8:30 p.m., including the initial batch of ballots that was rerun through tabulators.

Under Milwaukee rules, all of the city’s ballots are processed and tabulated at one central location. State law doesn’t allow election officials to tabulate or process any ballots before Election Day, a policy that is partially responsible for the typically late reporting of results from absentee ballots.

A bipartisan group of lawmakers tried to change that policy this past legislative session, but the Republican-written proposal to allow some ballot processing on the Monday before an election stalled in the Senate.

“It certainly seems like, if we did have laws that were a little bit different, that allowed pre-processing, like the majority of other states, that potentially we could have unofficial results earlier in the evening,” Wolfe said.

Election Day in Milwaukee was also marked by a lawsuit filed by the Republican National Committee, alleging that GOP election observers were being restricted at city election sites. The GOP walked back its claims at a Tuesday hearing, conceding there weren’t any issues.

Hoax bomb threat doesn’t disrupt voting

Outside of Milwaukee, election officials faced few issues.

The Madison Police Department received bomb threats for several current and former polling sites via several emails that appeared to be from an automated bot, perhaps linked to Russia, city spokesperson Dylan Brogan said. Police immediately thought they were bogus, and voting wasn’t disrupted at any voting location, Brogan said, though they followed up to make sure everything was fine.

In Thornapple, a northern Wisconsin town that faced a Justice Department lawsuit over its decision not to use accessible voting machines in the past, election officials did have a voting machine in use, said Erin Webster, a local resident who was an election observer on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, by 9 p.m., Wisconsin voters appeared overwhelmingly in support of a constitutional amendment to ban voting by noncitizens across Wisconsin. The amendment would have little practical effect on who can vote under existing laws, but it would bar municipalities from opening their local elections to noncitizens or younger voters.

The state had a surge of early in-person voting, but election officials said that Tuesday was still very busy. Melissa Kono, who has been a clerk in the small northern Wisconsin town of Burnside since 2013, said it was the most intense election she had ever administered in terms of turnout.

Alexander Shur is a reporter for Votebeat based in Wisconsin. Contact Alexander at ashur@votebeat.org.

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Milwaukee, WI

Stolen Oak Creek couple’s car found by viewer dumped near Milwaukee apartment complex

Published

6 hours ago

June 19, 2026

Press Room

Stolen Oak Creek couple’s car found by viewer dumped near Milwaukee apartment complex

MILWAUKEE — An Oak Creek couple’s stolen car has been found after a viewer who saw a report on the theft spotted it near a south side Milwaukee apartment complex.

Melinna Posey said the ordeal began when her car was stolen and she turned to social media for help. A person who responded claimed to have the vehicle and demanded money for its return. The person messaging even taunted her, discarding some of the items inside the car.

Personal items were inside the vehicle, including the family’s car seat, stroller, cameras and photos.

“It’s been very stressful, especially for him. It’s his vehicle, it’s in his name,” Posey said.

Watch: Stolen Oak Creek couple’s car found by viewer dumped near Milwaukee apartment complex

Stolen Oak Creek couple’s car found by viewer dumped near Milwaukee apartment complex

I spoke to Posey on Tuesday. Since then, she and Tyler Dusenberry had been searching for the car. On Thursday, the couple received a message from someone who saw the story on TMJ4. That person found the car at a south side Milwaukee apartment complex and shared pictures of the red Dodge Durango SRT between trees and a building, covered in tarps.

“I didn’t believe the text message at first today, and then he sent pictures of the car, and I was like, thank the lord, I was like thank you so much,” Posey said.

“It’s a roller coaster that’s what it’s been,” Dusenberry said.

Brendyn Jones/TMJ4

Oak Creek Police picked up the car and are processing it for evidence. The family has not yet been able to see the inside of the vehicle or what, if anything, was left behind.

The family said they are grateful to everyone who helped them this week, but said the entire experience will be tough to get over.

“It’s just unfortunate that this all happened, and we had a lot of memories and trips within that vehicle so it’s just a little life-changing to be honest,” Dusenberry said.

This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.

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Milwaukee, WI

$95,000 worth of Milwaukee tools stolen in Plover

Published

16 hours ago

June 18, 2026

Press Room

,000 worth of Milwaukee tools stolen in Plover

PLOVER, Wis. (WBAY) – Police in the western part of the state are spreading the word after someone stole over $95,000 worth of Milwaukee-brand tools. Police are concerned that they’ll be sold online or sold outside the state.

Milwaukee-brand tools were stolen from a trailer at a solar farm in Plover.

Police say there were 130 items, including more than 40 half-inch impact guns, multiple wire cutters, grease guns, 80 batteries, and a couple of small generators.

Investigators are warning that buyers who purchase stolen items can have them seized and could lose their money or even face criminal charges if they knew the property was stolen.

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