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Internal audit finds payroll controls gaps at Milwaukee Election Commission; director says staffing and transitions are driving fixes
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Summary
An internal audit presented to the Finance Committee identified seven payroll control weaknesses at the Milwaukee Election Commission — incomplete policies, informal job titles, inconsistent time sheets and calculation errors — and the commission's executive director described ongoing remediation and the role Workday will play moving forward.
Internal Audit presented seven findings Feb. 4 showing the Milwaukee Election Commission's payroll processes were "not adequately designed and were not operating effectively," the audit manager told the Finance & Personnel Committee.
Adrianna Molina, audit manager, said auditors reviewed payroll activity covering Nov. 1 through April 30, including the presidential and spring 2025 elections, and found gaps in documented policies and procedures, informal position titles used for pay processing, missing arrival/departure times and signatures on many election‑worker time sheets, payroll calculation inconsistencies and inadequate reconciliation between poll‑chief spreadsheets and payroll records.
"The controls in place over the Milwaukee Election Commission payroll processes were not adequately designed and were not operating effectively," Molina said during the presentation.
Auditors flagged six examples of missing or inconsistent time documentation (e.g., missing arrival time in 24 cases, missing departure time in 67 cases, and chief inspector certification missing in 24 cases) and identified 202 calculation inconsistencies in a sample of 1,036 election‑day worker records. They recommended documenting policies, standardizing pay rates and time‑calculation methods, improving segregation of duties for commissioner reimbursements, enforcing residency documentation and implementing periodic reconciliations.
Executive Director Gutierrez told the committee the issues are largely procedural and tied to staffing constraints during a high‑turnout presidential election and a period of turnover: "At the end of the day though, much of what Adrianna pointed out were things that we had inclinations that we had issues with and we were working towards remedying," Gutierrez said. She emphasized that the audit's payroll findings do not affect vote counts or election accuracy.
Gutierrez said the commission implemented a new poll‑worker management system in 2023, is preparing online timecards and expects the city's planned Workday rollout to materially reduce manual processes. She gave a target of 2027 for completing many recommendations, tied to system transitions and resourcing; Internal Audit will follow up on open findings as part of its annual tracking.
What happens next: The committee placed the audit on file; Internal Audit confirmed it will follow up on open recommendations in its next annual review cycle and the Election Commission said it will return with implementation plans and continue to coordinate with DER and Workday project teams.
