Off By 1365 Ballots in Only Six Wards

Washburn is reviewing the ballots from Milwaukee in the 2004 Presidential election.  It’s very troubling.

Ward 44 had 470 more ballots scanned than handed to electors. Here is the paperwork.
Ward 54 had 449 more ballots scanned than handed to electors. Here is the paperwork.
Ward 1 had 148 more ballots scanned than handed to electors. Here is the paperwork.
Ward 59 had 144 fewer ballots scanned than handed to electors. Here is the paperwork.
Ward 76 had 79 more ballots scanned than handed to electors. Here is the paperwork.
Ward 12 had 75 more ballots scanned than handed to electors. Here is the paperwork.

This is a variance of 1365 ballots (1077 net), confined to only six wards in the City of Milwaukee.

It could be somebody stuffing the ballot boxes, rank incompetance by election officials, or both.  But when Bush only lost Wisconsin by a few thousand votes each time, it’s extremely troubling.  Furthermore, if it happened in that election, who knows how often it goes on for other elections where races are decided by hundreds of votes. 

1. It’s all worth it just so that poor people who don’t ever buy cigarettes or alcohol aren’t discouraged from voting.

   Posted by Matt on July 18, 2007 at 0754 hrs




2. Oops, I don’t think mine went through, let me try again...oops let me try that again...huh, I guess they have been going through after all.

   Posted by on July 18, 2007 at 0830 hrs




3. If only we had Voter ID to solve the problem.

   Umm, wait....scratch that

   Posted by on July 18, 2007 at 1229 hrs




4. Aina’ hey lefty, ain’a hey.  The voter ID seems to be aimed to try to catch or deter a true dribbling amount of voter fraud.  The kind stated above, a much higher figure, would not be caught in any way by voter ID.

   Posted by on July 18, 2007 at 1334 hrs




5. For the 2008 election, I think the feds ought to send election monitors to Milwaukee, like they have done in other cities.  With people being convicted of voter fraud and now the irregular voting numbsrs, it’s time for the feds to step in.  The presidential election of an election to worry about voter fraud and ballot stuffing.

   Posted by on July 18, 2007 at 1630 hrs




6. make that the presidential election is too important of an election to worry about voter fraud and ballot stuffing.

   Posted by on July 18, 2007 at 1632 hrs




7. As a Milwaukeean, I actually do agree that this is worrisome.  And not just in presidential elections.  Proportionately, this suggests it’s even more likely that my vote for my alderman wouldn’t count.

   But in the bigger-picture realm of presidential and statewide races, it would be more persuasive if there was a similar study of as many and as populated wards elsewhere in the state or at least the metro area.  That could be an indication of how much of this might be general confusion or even incompetence by busy pollworkers or even election officials—and how much, if there is a significant difference, is something specific to Milwaukee.

   (For example, that 96 percent turnout reported in 2004 in the city of Waukesha still seems too stunning to be believable, doesn’t it?  If two percent of people are sick on any given day in November, and one percent are having car trouble or kid trouble or other things that happen in life, and another percent . . . well, 96 percent is higher than the mythical turnouts in dictatorships, for pity’s sake!)

   Posted by on July 18, 2007 at 1647 hrs