Milwaukee Primary Results Delayed Due to Human Error

Milwaukee's election results from the primary held on August 8, 2026, were delayed due to a human error involving five out of nine USB flash drives that failed to download the election results. This incident affected the Democratic gubernatorial primary between candidates David Crowley and Francesca Hong. Paulina Gutiérrez, executive director of the Milwaukee Election Commission, stated that the error delayed the reporting of results by one hour but confirmed that the election results remained intact and no ballots were lost or changed. The Milwaukee Election Commission indicated that the audit log was downloaded instead of the actual results. Gutiérrez noted that a wrong button was pressed during the data download process. The error resulted in approximately 15,000 votes not being counted initially. Following the incident, Milwaukee County Clerk George Christenson emphasized the importance of transparency in the election process. Critics, including Republican state Rep. Scott Krug, expressed concerns over the handling of the situation, labeling it as incompetence. This incident is part of a broader pattern of election administration issues reported in various Democratic-led states, including New Jersey and Oregon, where software and registration errors have been documented. The primary race was officially concluded with Crowley winning by a margin of 0.5% at 2:34 a.m. on August 9.