MADISON, Wis. — Now that polls have closed in Wisconsin, election officials around the state have turned their focus to counting each and every vote.
Even when every vote has been counted, election officials will still have more work to do, Wisconsin Elections Commission Administrator Megan Wolfe said during a Tuesday night media briefing.
Once ballots have been tabulated, election workers will turn voting equipment to reporting mode, which will print the results for each polling place; those results will then be read aloud to announce the vote totals.
Poll workers will then convene in a local board of canvassers in a public setting Tuesday night where they’ll verify the vote totals. Election observers are welcome to watch the canvass meetings.
Each municipality’s clerk will then pass along their respective unofficial results to their county clerk who will share the results on their website. Posting unofficial results at the county level is required by law.
After election night, officials at the local and county levels will review their results; if any contests are within the recount margin after county canvasses are complete, the losing candidate can request a recount.
Once county results are canvassed or reaffirmed following a recount, the WEC will certify the results, which must be completed by Dec. 1, according to state law.
Wolfe issued a reminder during the briefing that the timing for vote tabulation can vary greatly from municipality to municipality “because election officials are prioritizing accuracy over speed.”
That’s especially true for larger cities like Milwaukee, Madison and Green Bay. Because of that, it could take until the early morning to gather unofficial results in some areas, though that is not a new or unusual occurrence.
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Still, Wolfe said Election Day went smoothly around the state, due in large part to years of planning from election officials.
“I’m again glad to report that today’s election went very smoothly, but also I want to state that today’s election went smoothly not by accident,” Wolfe said. “It went smoothly because of the hard work and the planning of local election officials in every city, town and village in Wisconsin today. They have trained, planned and prepared for this day for the last two years, and I want to thank them.”
For the latest election results in Dane County and around Wisconsin, click or press here.
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