Milwaukee officials said that, while tallies of in-person Election Day votes from the city will likely be released within the next hour and a half, all results of early votes won’t be released until early tomorrow morning.
All of the early votes, mail and in-person, will be reported separately in one batch once counting is complete.
The city expects a total of about 169,000 absentee ballots, and as of 7:50 p.m. CT (8:50 p.m. ET), Mayor Tom Barrett said they’ve processed about 103,000 of them – just over 60%. He’s now projecting the count will be done by 4 a.m. CT (5 a.m. ET). Over 100 staffers have committed to stay as long as it takes to finish counting.
After the counting is complete, those results must be reported to Milwaukee County, which makes them public. The county’s elections director Julietta Henry is predicting they will be done by 5 a.m. CT (6 a.m. ET), according to a spokesperson.
Meanwhile, in-person Election Day votes are being counted at individual polling places and results are sent to the county directly for release. That will likely be in the next hour and a half, Barrett said.
Officials don’t know the total number of in-person Election Day votes yet.
Overall, voting went well. “Everything has been very smooth,” city Election Commission executive director Claire Woodall-Vogg said.