Milwaukee Election Commission fields questions as election day nears
MILWAUKEE - Paulina Gutiérrez, Executive Director of the Milwaukee Election Commission, fielded questions from the media on Thursday, Oct. 31 – just five days ahead of election day.
Updated reports from the state show as of Thursday afternoon, more than 105,000 people have cast in-person absentee ballots in Milwaukee County – with more than 180,000 ballots have been returned.
"We had a rough start the first start of early voting, but it seems like the statewide database system is working fine," Gutiérrez said. "We're seeing great turnout. On the last three days, we've seen over 6,000 voters come to early vote. We are now, as of this morning, which I'm sure it's a lot higher now we're at 79,000 ballots."
As for the state, more than 1.2 million ballots have been returned – and of those, more than 705,000 have been in-person absentee.
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In recent days, there had been a plea for poll workers by the city. Gutiérrez said that need is no longer.
"So we employ about 2,500 to 3,000 poll workers. And I am very happy and I feel really proud to be in Milwaukee and that the citizens of Milwaukee stepped up," Gutiérrez said. "And we have enough poll workers that we actually shut down the application and we're really solid on our central count numbers."
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Gutiérrez was asked about poll observers – and whether there have been any challenges at the in-person absentee voting sites. Gutiérrez said there have been no challenges.
Early in-person absentee voting in Milwaukee
"When we have issues with observers, we immediately attempt to de-escalate," Gutiérrez said. "And so, you know, there's been a few here and there, but nothing major. It's just all about educating the observer about what the rules are and what their role is, and then making sure that the 3 to 8 feet is complied with."
Gutiérrez noted that count of the early votes will begin at central count in downtown Milwaukee at 8 a.m. on election day. Because of the volume, she expects it may be early Wednesday morning before the final count is established.