The Metropolis of Milwaukee has confronted rightful criticism of how they performed the 2026 Democrat main on Tuesday night.
As The Gateway Pundit has reported, there was a discrepancy with 5 out of 9 ES&S DS950 high-speed central scanners when election staff allegedly exported “audit logs” as an alternative of “outcomes,” leaving Wisconsin questioning who can be the gubernatorial candidate for the Democrats.
Francesca Hong, a card-carrying member of the Democratic Socialists of America, who was favored by 22 factors within the final polls earlier than voting and in 5 polls with a mean margin of Hong +22.8 factors, misplaced within the late-night rely to the institution candidate, David Crowley by simply over 3,200 votes.
Final 5 Wisconsin Governor Democratic Main Polls:
State Navigate: 🔵 Hong +22
Public Coverage Polling: 🔵 Hong +18
Marquette College: 🔵 Hong +25
State Navigate: 🔵 Hong +29
Public Coverage Polling: 🔵 Hong +20Outcomes (88% Reporting): 🟡Crowley +0.5 pic.twitter.com/FRqVIOiVT1
— OSZ (@OpenSourceZone) August 12, 2026
A digital camera crew for CBS58 Milwaukee caught a minimum of one second when the “audit log” was exported, relatively than the outcomes.
Within the photograph, you possibly can see “Export Audit Log” written on the prime of the menu and a pop-up window that claims “Please Wait… Exporting Audit Log”. Timestamps on the machine present that this occurred at 10:16 p.m. on August 11, 2026.
A separate picture reveals the right menu for choosing both Configuration, Outcomes, or Setup.
SCOOP: Our cameras caught the second Milwaukee elections workers screwed up.
Whereas the town Election Fee says there was no method to see the unsuitable information was on the USB sticks bc it’s encrypted, it positive seems to be like somebody may’ve caught what they had been mistakenly exporting… pic.twitter.com/sXlOp6e5He
— A.J. Bayatpour (@AJBayatpour) August 13, 2026
Alexander Shur, a author for Votebeat, posted on X that, “Any person clicked the unsuitable button on a number of tabulators. They did it proper in entrance of me. It was a nasty mistake, however it was a easy one. Those self same officers clicked the correct button on those self same tabulators afterward, additionally in entrance of me.”
The Gateway Pundit reached out to Shur to inquire as to why no observers objected to the audit log’s being uploaded as an alternative of outcomes. He mentioned that the display screen is fairly small, suggesting it was tough to see, and that the photographs are zoomed in fairly a bit.
Shur additionally posted photographs on X of the preliminary obtain of election outcomes, in addition to the second obtain later that night. The first post from the preliminary rely reveals a minimum of 9 folks within the room. The second post from the later try reveals simply two folks.
In an article for votebeat.org, Shur wrote that a problem within the 2024 presidential election, Milwaukee recounted 31,000 ballots a second time as a result of workers didn’t correctly lock the doorways on the tabulator, as was coverage. This left the machines on/off swap uncovered, however extra importantly, a slot for USB drives.
This error in 2024 led then-city election chief Claire Woodall to implement a course of “to forestall future such errors” by having “a single official extracting outcomes from every tabulator whereas accompanied by different workers.” This could have possible caught the audit log error, as workers observers would have overseen the extraction.
That is the third time that Milwaukee has had vital points involving USB units since 2020.
In 2020, then-city election chief Claire Woodall allegedly forgot a USB machine and needed to return to retrieve it. This was one of many circumstances that led to the notorious electronic mail from the Elections Group’s Ryan Chew telling Woodall that she had “a aptitude for drama” and that she delivered “simply the margin wanted at 3:00 a.m.”
In 2024, the town had the above-mentioned discrepancy during which a USB slot was left uncovered. A USB slot is a particularly susceptible a part of the election machine. Any hacker with entry may shortly add malware just by inserting a USB machine for a short second.
After which, in 2026, election staff did not add “outcomes,” and as an alternative uploaded “audit logs.” The outcomes of the election led to the victory of a candidate who was polling a mean of twenty-two factors forward of the eventual winner, David Crowley.
Replace on Earlier Reporting:
On Wednesday, The Gateway Pundit reported on the “human error” that impacted 5 out of 9 ES&S DS950 scanners on the metropolis’s central rely. In line with the ES&S guide, election staff would have needed to knowingly choose “Export Audit Logs” relatively than “Export Outcomes.”
The guide, from 2012, shouldn’t be correct, nevertheless. Up to date software program on the ES&S DS950 now prompts customers to pick “Export Recordsdata” in the identical place—as the primary choice—as an alternative of “Export Outcomes.” The subsequent menu has an possibility to pick which information, together with “Outcomes,” to export.
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