Milwaukee election officials blamed “human error” for a delay in reporting results from Tuesday’s primary after several USB drives brought to the Milwaukee County Courthouse contained the wrong information.
Milwaukee Election Commissioner Paulina Gutierrez said she arrived at the courthouse with nine USB drives connected to the processing of roughly 28,000 absentee ballots. Five of those drives, however, did not contain the election results officials were expecting.
Instead, the drives held election audit logs, according to Urban Milwaukee.
Milwaukee, again. 5 of 9 USB drives arrived with audit logs, not results. 15,000 ballots in limbo. “Wrong button.”
Same song, apparently infinite verses.
The 👏 processes 👏 of 👏 our 👏 elections 👏 are 👏 broken.
We’ve had hearings, statements, task forces. Everything except…
— True the Vote (@TrueTheVote) August 12, 2026
Gutierrez said the problem was caused by a simple mistake during the data-download process rather than an issue with the voting equipment.
“All of this was done in the public sphere. It was a matter of the wrong button being pressed,” she said.
According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Gutierrez also said there were no problems with the machines themselves.
Once officials discovered the mistake, election workers returned to the central location where Milwaukee’s absentee ballots had been processed so they could retrieve the correct results. The data then had to be downloaded again and checked before it could be delivered back to the Milwaukee County Election Commission at the courthouse.
WAIT….WHAT 🚨
Just in case you’re wondering… this specific glitch has never happened in Milwaukee County
Hong had a slight lead on Crowley.. (THEN)
Officials discovered ” HUMAN ERROR ” five of the (9) memory sticks contained audit logs, instead of election results… pic.twitter.com/eJn4KThIc0
— @Chicago1Ray 🇺🇸 (@Chicago1Ray) August 12, 2026
“We’re going to reprint and start the process so that we can compare those results,” Gutierrez said.
Milwaukee County Clerk George Christenson estimated that the mistake delayed the reporting of results by about an hour.
City officials emphasized that safeguards remained in place throughout the process and said the delay did not affect the accuracy of the vote count.
“Elections are a bedrock of democracy. The City of Milwaukee’s highest priority during an election is the accuracy of our vote count,” Nick DeSiato, chief of staff for Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson, said in a statement.
DeSiato said the Milwaukee Election Commission would continue to be transparent about its procedures. He also argued that the incident highlighted the need for Wisconsin lawmakers to reconsider rules surrounding the processing of absentee ballots before Election Day.
Milwaukee says due to human error, 5 out of 9 USBs were missing election results. Oops! pic.twitter.com/cLFRALff5p
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) August 12, 2026
“The Milwaukee Election Commission has been and will continue to be transparent with its processes. This also serves as a timely reminder that our state Legislature needs to revisit the ability to early process absentee votes,” he said.
DeSiato added that multiple layers of election security and accountability are designed to make sure reported totals are accurate.
Although the problem caused a noticeable delay on election night, officials maintained that the issue came down to incorrect files being placed on the USB drives, not lost ballots or malfunctioning equipment.
The delay came during a closely watched Democratic primary for governor. Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley narrowly defeated progressive candidate Francesca Hong, according to CNN.
