Milwaukee County canvass begins after staff reports turnout, selects wards for random audit

The Milwaukee County canvassing body began its official canvass of the April 1, 2025 spring election after county staff reported turnout figures, said some polling places ran out of ballots and announced a random audit of several polling places in the state Supreme Court race.

County elections staff member Ms. Holly told the board on April 1 that “On 04/01/2025 for the ’25, 2025 spring election in Milwaukee County, we had 549,958 registered voters, who cast a whopping total 1,119,000 ballots, which gave us a voter turnout of 55.61%.” She also said participation was strong at polling places and in in-person absentee voting.

The numbers were presented by staff as reported at the meeting. The figures read aloud included both the counts of registered voters and ballots cast and the cited turnout percentage; county staff did not resolve an apparent inconsistency in which the reported number of ballots exceeded the reported number of registered voters during the meeting. The county will finalize and certify official totals as part of the canvass process.

Ms. Holly told the body that election staff encountered a few polling places that ran out of ballots on Election Day and that staff printed more and delivered them so voters could cast ballots. “We had to print some more and get them out to the polling places to make sure that everybody had an opportunity to cast their ballot on Election Day,” she said. She also said voters who were in line at 8 p.m. and remained were allowed to cast their ballots.

As part of the canvass, staff announced a voluntary random audit of the state Supreme Court race that will cover the following units: Milwaukee Ward 67 polling place; Milwaukee Ward 220 polling place; Greenfield Ward 13 (Hales Corners) reporting units 12 and 3; and West Allis Ward 8 polling place. The board’s staff said the audit selection was being made now as part of the county’s post-election procedures.

Board staff said the canvass must be certified by next Friday and indicated the chair’s availability for that date. When asked, the chair confirmed that the proposed date would work. Following the report and brief questions from commissioners, the body recessed so staff could continue the canvass and reconvene to certify the results.

No formal roll-call vote was recorded in the meeting transcript for commencing the canvass; the chair and commissioners present signaled agreement to recess and resume for certification.