Milwaukee ballot shortages, spring election saw historic turnout
Ballot shortage in Milwaukee
At least seven Milwaukee polling sites ran out of ballots on Tuesday night amid historic voter turnout.
MILWAUKEE - At least seven Milwaukee polling sites ran out of ballots on Tuesday night amid historic voter turnout.
What they're saying:
Tuesday's spring election was smooth sailing until around 6 p.m. Milwaukee voters called FOX6 News to say their polling site had run out of ballots, and there were a few reports of voters being turned away.
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"That absolutely should not happen," said Paulina Gutierrez. "Completely unacceptable – we sent a message to our chiefs to let them know."
Gutierrez, the Milwaukee Election Commission executive director, gave an update from Cental Count on election night. She said at least seven polling locations across the city had a ballot shortage.
Paulina Gutierrez
"We’ve expanded our field staff. We’ve expanded our express vote machines. We’ve taken all the express vote paper that we have," she said. "These are the machines we use at early voting. They are en route to those locations, along with more ballots."
Dig deeper:
Guiterrez explained it can be a slow process. The election commission uses specialized ballot printers, which can take up to an hour – plus, on Tuesday, it was rush hour.
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"We typically have 15 couriers. We expanded to another 10, so they are out there in the city," she said.
Not every polling site gets the same number of ballots; every ward is different. In another update around 8 p.m. Tuesday, Gutierrez explained they typically order ballots based on a few things: previous elections, busy locations and registered voters. But this spring election was different.
2025 Wisconsin spring election; analyzing historic voter turnout
The Democratic-backed Susan Crawford defeated her challenger endorsed by President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk on Tuesday.
"I think it was just a historic election with unprecedented turnout," said Gutierrez.
By the numbers:
Gutierrez said, for a typical spring election that is nonpartisan, the election commission sees 20% to 40% voter turnout. This year, that number was nearly 50%.
What's next:
After every election, Gutierrez said the commission reflects on what went well and what could be worked on for the next.
The Source: Information in this report is from the Milwaukee Election Commission.